The Birchwood Twin(s): Halloween Special
by imaginarytoon1
Summary: Beatrice is back...with a problem. When her little cousin goes missing one night, Beatrice goes off to find her. Along the way, Beatrice faces a series of obstacles and plans to not stop at anything as she tries to save her cousin. (This is the first holiday special of "The Birchwood Twin(s)".)
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One **

**(I originally wanted to have the Birchwood Twins to do parodies of certain scenes from horror movies while facing an evil force but I couldn't think of anything good. After watching an old childhood movie that involved Winnie The Pooh dreaming about 'Heffalumps' and 'Woozles', I decided to make this.**

**So, ladies and gentlemen of FanFiction, users, reviewers, and guests, I would like to introduce you to **_**The Birchwood Twin(s) Halloween Special**_**.)**

**Hope you enjoy ;)!**

**-imaginarytoon1)**

**Beatrice:**

"Ouch!" I exclaimed as I pricked my finger with a sewing needle.

Before I tell you why I have a sewing needle, I am going to explain this and I'll try to make this short and simple:

Because of the lack of money for school clothes and supplies, I obviously had to look for a job and get the money. So I decided to go work at the library on Tomago Boulevard and entertain little kids by being a part of the weekly puppet shows. I know it sounds like a silly thing to do but I have to do it…just for the money and for seeing little kids laugh. Right now, instead of resting on my favorite tree on a nice sunny afternoon, I am making new puppets because the puppets at the library are really old. To tell you the truth, sewing isn't as easy as women do it on TV.

Speaking of little kids, my little cousin, Lexi, is coming over to visit me for a while, due to my Aunt Maddie going on vacation with my mom.

I know that we were going to have a lot of fun.

Lexi is, obviously, my little cousin who is eight years old, communicates with sign language, has curly auburn hair, and brown eyes. There are several things that I like about Lexi. She's really sweet and always has a smile on her face. Lexi looks up to me and treats me like I'm her big sister, due to the fact that she doesn't have any brothers or sisters.

But anyway, I am just waiting for Lexi to show up while I sew a dress on a red-haired hand puppet.

Right now, I am home alone. Mom's on vacation and my dad and Tommy are on a fishing trip. I wanted to go fishing with my daddy but when I heard that Lexi was coming over to stay, I volunteered to stay behind and look after her.

_Any minute now. _I thought. _Aunt Maddie is going to drop off Lexi and we'll have the house to ourselves. Heh, heh, heh. Haven't had a girls' night in a long, long time._

As I continued to sew the puppets, I began to think about what happened to me and Tommy six weeks ago. We drove from 2012 Houston to 1947 Los Angeles, got involved with a mystery, and even Tommy and I got kidnapped by toon weasels. I was shot, cut, slapped, kissed, cuddled, had bricks getting dropped on me, put in a chokehold twice, and I still managed to stay alive. But I still wondered how I drove to a place that existed in a movie and came back home with bandage tape around my hands, arm, and thigh. What still makes me wonder more is how Greasy, one of the toon weasels, managed to send me a letter if he was a part of a fictional place where humans coexisted with cartoon characters, known as Toons.

I showed Tommy the letter that Greasy sent me before he went to jail and Tommy was equally confused like me. I didn't show the letter to Mom or Dad because I know that they'll think that I wrote the letter to myself with a different name.

(BEEP, BEEP!)

After hearing the car horn, I carefully put my puppet stuff away and walked out of the house.

Aunt Maddie's car was parked by my family's mailbox and Lexi came out of the car, dragging a small suitcase behind her.

In sign language, I said,

**Hi, Lexi! How are you doing? **

Lexi replied with a big smile on her face,

**I'm good!**

Aunt Maddie rolls down her window and says,

"Keep an eye on Lexi and make sure she doesn't wander off to any unfamiliar places."

"Yes, ma'am." I replied.

Aunt Maddie says to Lexi,

**Lexi, make sure that you listen to Beatrice and don't do things that I or Beatrice wouldn't do. If you're going out somewhere with Beatrice, stay close and don't wander off. Other than that, have fun!**

Lexi nods her head.

Aunt Maddie leaves and I help Lexi carry her suitcase to the house. The cold AC cools me and I take Lexi and her suitcase to the guest room. It's not too small but the bed is big enough for four people to sleep on. Plus, it's close to my dad's study and the bathroom across the hall.

As I placed Lexi's suitcase next to the closet in the guest room, Lexi asked me if she can teach me a few things in sign language. Despite of reading, studying, and practicing sign language for some time, I accepted to learn something new.

We sat down on the living room couch and Lexi said to me,

**I'm going to show you how to say a few words in sign language.**

** Okay. **I replied. **Show me what you got. **

Lexi opens her left palm and places her right wrist (the part where a nurse checks your pulse) on the center of her left palm. She waves her right hand and I read her lips.

She said, **"Movie."**

I nodded my head.

Lexi interlocks her index fingers twice.

She said, **"Friend." **

Lexi tells me that she was going to give me one more thing to say in sign language. She puts her right hand on her heart, slides it over to her left a little bit, and crosses her left hand over her right.

She said, **"I love you." **

I smiled and told her that it was a really nice thing to say.

Lexi smiled and then, she asked me if we can watch a movie.

I took her to a compartment where my family keeps the movies. Most of the movies that we own are Disney movies. (They were the kind of movies that I would do silly things after watching them as a little kid. For example, after watching _Peter Pan, _I was admired by the pixie dust and I dumped a giant canister of gold glitter on myself. I thought that it was going to make me fly and it took Mom a really long time to vacuum all of the glitter.) I made myself a silly promise that if I babysat a little kid, I would make them watch a couple of Disney movies and they can have some laughs (maybe a couple of cries) while they learn something.

**I would like to watch **_**Pinocchio. **_Lexi said after pulling out a VHS tape version of the film.

I took out the tape and played it.

To make it like Lexi and I were in the movie theater, I turned off the living room lights and closed the blinds.

As the movie officially began to play, I began to remember what Dad told me when I was watching one of the most disturbing scenes in _Pinocchio, _the part where Lampy transformed into a donkey.

"You see, Beatrice?" Dad said to me, ten years ago. "If you drink too much beer, smoke too much, or do bad things too many times, then you'll turn into a donkey."

"Really, Daddy?" I asked, nervously.

Dad never gave me a good answer and after that, Dad and I got in really big trouble after I dumped thirty-eight six packs of beer. Well, I got in trouble for dumping the beer but Dad got in to more trouble after Mom found out that he told me that I was going to turn in to a donkey if I drank beer.

Anyway, when Lexi and I got to the part where Honest John was taking Pinocchio to a puppet show, I had to explain to Lexi that if a stranger walked up to her, then she shouldn't go with them. After asking why, I told her that strangers are nothing but trouble and she should politely say no to bad things, rides, and presents and never give away any personal information. Lexi nodded, indicating that she'll keep that in mind.

The part where Pinocchio was taken to Pleasure Island took a LOT of explaining. Lampy's donkey transformation scared the living daylights out of Lexi and I had to reassure that the people who made _Pinocchio _had the idea of over-exaggerating. After ten minutes, Lexi finally got the message.

But as the day passed, Lexi and I ended up having a good time until night came. After Lexi fell asleep, I went back to the living room, turned on the TV, and went back to work on making the puppets for the library.

I pricked my finger at least ten more times as my eyelids grew heavier by the minute.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**Beatrice:**

I woke up with a sewing needle still in my hand and the puppet with a small blood stain on it the hem of its pants. I hate it when I fall asleep whenever I'm working on something. Because when I wake up and find myself stuck in the middle of a project, then I would get stressed and I would have to drive to the nearest gas station and buy myself a water bottle-sized can of D.P. (Dr. Pepper).

The problem is that I can't leave Lexi alone, even though it takes a person two to three minutes to walk to the gas station. Plus, I promised Aunt Maddie that I would keep an eye on Lexi and I don't want Aunt Maddie to throw a fit.

_You know what? _I thought. _I'll just make some breakfast and wait for Lexi._

After putting my puppet stuff away, I grabbed my cell phone and walked to the kitchen. While grabbing an English muffin and Colby Jack cheese, I turned on my phone and checked for any messages. I got three texts from Mom, an email from some big company who wants to make a deal with me, and a voicemail from Tommy.

I put my English muffin in the toaster and I looked at Mom's texts.

How r u doin'?

Is ev'rything all right?

Txt me soon!

I replied:

I'm doin' fine…

Lexi's doin' all right and she's sleepin' right now.

I'm makin' breakfast.

B-)

I deleted the email that I didn't even want to look at and I listened to Tommy's voicemail:

"Hey, Beatrice. It's Tommy, obviously. So far, Dad and I are having a pretty good time but it seems that the fish are being really smart on Dad and me. Once we come back from Lake Gatlin, we'll have enough fish to feed the whole world. That was just an exaggeration, by the way. See you in three days!"

I deleted the message and my English muffin popped out of the toaster. I took it out of the toaster and added a slice of cheese. I made myself a glass of orange juice and took my breakfast to the living room.

I was about halfway finished with my English muffin when I saw Lexi standing in front of the television. Remember what I said about Lexi always having a smile on her face? Even in the morning, Lexi will still greet people with a smile on her face, whether they like to smile or not. But Lexi isn't smiling right now. She's standing in front of the living room television with a look of terror, tension, and nervousness.

**Lexi, **I said. **Did you get enough sleep last night?**

She shook her head no.

**I think something went under my bed. **Lexi replied. **It looked like a brown dog…standing on two legs…with a long nose…and wears something with pink.**

** A brown dog on two legs, a long nose, and is wearing something in pink? **I asked. **Are you sure that you're not imagining things?**

** No but it did say something to me.**

** What did it say?**

** It said, 'Hello, little girl. Have you seen the broad?'**

I looked at Lexi in shock.

**Lexi, that's not a very nice word to say. **I said. **And I think that your mind is playing tricks on you.**

Lexi just looked at me with a sad face.

I sighed and then, I thought of this method that my grandmother used to do whenever I have any unpleasant nightly thoughts in my mind.

**If you still remember what that dog looked like, then grab a sheet of paper, some crayons, and a sharpened pencil and draw the dog. **I replied.

**What should I do after that? **Lexi asked.

**Then, you show me the picture and I'll show you what to do with it. **

While Lexi went off to get the things that I told her to get, I took my breakfast dishes and washed them in the sink. I put the dishes in the dishwasher and went back to the living room couch.

Lexi arrived with the paper, pencil, and crayons and sat down on the floor. It took some time for her to get the outlines right and she colored outside of the lines of the drawing.

When she was done, Lexi handed me the picture and I looked at it. She just drew a pretty messy drawing of Smarty, the leader of the Toon Patrol. This is really weird.

_If Lexi never watched 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit', then how does she know what Smarty looked like? _I thought._Wait a minute. I'm not even sure if she saw the movie._

** Lexi, **I said. **Have you seen **_**Who Framed Roger Rabbit? **_

Lexi shook her head no.

**I never saw it. **She replied.

**Okay, if you say that you didn't watch it, then I trust you. **I said. **But is this the dog?**

Lexi nodded.

**All right. **I said. **Meet me outside in the front yard. I'm getting a box of matches.**

I grabbed a box of matches from one of the kitchen cabinets and headed to the front yard. Lexi was standing on the concrete sidewalk of the yard.

**This was a trick that my grandmother used to do when I'm scared of something. **I said. **I would draw a picture of that certain thing that scared me and then, with the supervision of an older relative or family member, I would take the picture outside, put down on a pile of rocks or a sidewalk, and I burn it up. **

** Does it work? **Lexi asked.

**Most of the time, yes. Sometimes it takes a little more than just burning up a picture. If burning the picture doesn't work, then I suggest that you should tell yourself that your mind is playing tricks and there's really nothing to be afraid of. After waking up the next day, the scary thing is no longer a part of my life.**

Lexi looks at me with amazement.

I threw the picture down on the sidewalk and lit a match. I carefully threw the match on the picture and the flame acted like a fast-growing mold, covering the sheet of paper and consumes it, leaving nothing but a big pile of ashes.

As the day passed, Lexi didn't seem to be bothered of this 'dog standing on two legs'. Thanks to a psychology book that I read in the library, the sign of Lexi not getting bothered by her oh-so-scary dog tells me that she's no longer worried about it.

But when night came, after brushing her teeth, worry came back to Lexi after putting on a white tank top and blue pajama shorts. I noticed that when I saw her standing perfectly still in front of the guest bed room door. I guess that burning the picture didn't work as well as I thought.

I gently tapped Lexi on her shoulder and asked,

**Are you still scared about that dog from last night?**

She nodded her head nervously.

**Do you want me to check the room? **I asked.

Lexi replied with a nervous **Yes.**

Whenever little kids are scared of something that comes out at night, they usually rely on their parents to check their rooms for anything. Because of being the oldest, I usually have to act like the parent when it comes to having little kids in my house.

But as I looked around in the guest bedroom, I thought about Lexi's picture. I wondered about how it strongly resembled Smarty and I even thought of the impossible.

_This sounds ridiculous but what if Smarty is holding a grudge on me? _I thought. _What if he and the other members of the Toon Patrol got out of jail and they're seeking for revenge? Nah, that can't happen. Smarty, the other members of the Toon Patrol, Roger, and the other Toons only exist in movies and cartoons. There's absolutely no way that a character from a fictional world can cross over from their world to our world._

I was looking under the guest bed when my thoughts stopped and when I felt Lexi tap me on the back. I almost bumped my head in surprise.

**Did you find the dog? **Lexi asked.

**No. **I replied. **The dog isn't in the room. **

With caution, Lexi climbed on to the bed and covered herself up with the sheets and covers. She still displays the signs of anxiety and nervousness. With sternness in my sign language, I began to have a lecture with Lexi. I was probably moving my hands too fast when I had mild frustration in me.

**Lexi, **I said. **I assure you that the dog is gone and there's really nothing to be afraid of. I want you to keep in mind that sometimes our mind likes to play tricks on us and they can be disposed of if we don't think about the silly things that we don't wish to see.**

I sighed in regret because I don't like to talk to anyone like that, even if they need to absorb something in their head that will help them in the future.

**I'm sorry for talking like that. **I said. **I promise that I'll control myself when I'm talking to you.**

Lexi replied with a sleepy smile and an **It's okay.**

** If it makes you comfortable, **I said. **Then I'll sit in this room until you fall asleep. How does that sound?**

** I promise that I'll forget about the scary dog in the morning, Beatrice.**

** Don't worry, Lexi. **I said and patted Lexi on her head gently.** You will. Let me get my sewing stuff and I'll be right back in just a second.**

I walked out of the room and came back with my sewing stuff. Immediately, Lexi closed her eyes and looked like that she was going to sleep the whole night.

While I sewed two black buttons on one of the boy dolls, I would check on Lexi to see if she was doing all right. In the process of that, I pricked my finger with the sewing needle.

_There's something wrong with this sewing needle. _I thought, parodying a Glozell video that I watched two days ago. _Stupid needle…it's RACIST!_

When I finally had enough with getting pricked by a needle, I decided to write an email to the librarian and ask her if there was something that was quicker than sewing the puppets by hand.

I left the room and I assured myself that Lexi was fast asleep and she wouldn't wake up until morning comes.

I put up my puppets and walked to the computer in the kitchen. I pulled up a blank email draft on the computer and I began the email with,

"Hey, Mrs. Delong…"

I stopped there after feeling two of my fingers throbbing in pain, due to the multiple times of getting pricked by a stupid sewing needle.

After washing my hands, drying them, and placing them in a bowl of ice for a few minutes, I wrapped my fingers with Band-Aids and got ready for bed. I re-braided my messy Katniss Everdeen braid, brushed my teeth, washed my face, and stared at the mirror awkwardly.

I walked to my room and dressed myself in black shorts and an oversized gray shirt. I got myself comfortable and turned off my bedroom light.

…

I woke up with a bright light shining on my face and I looked at my clock radio on my bookshelf. It was ten-thirty-five.

_I guess that I slept well last night. _I thought. _I wonder how Lexi is doing right now._

I got out of bed and walked to the guest bedroom. Slowly and quietly, I opened the door. Lexi is lying perfectly still on the bed and since I experienced people sleeping in and waking up at a later time, I decided to let her be.

My phone vibrates on the kitchen counter while I fix myself an English muffin and a glass of orange juice. A text message from Cressida Gruwell, a 'text-pal' of mine from Florida, shows up on the screen of my phone.

"Hey, gur, whatssup?" She asked.

"Just babysittin' little cuz." I replied.

…..

"Havin' fun?"

…..

"So far, yes."

…..

After sending my second text, I waited for Cressida to reply. I knew that it was going to take a long time because Cressida is always thinking of another subject to talk about…which will be discussed until the next few hours or so.

While waiting and eating my breakfast, I waited for Lexi to wake up. It's already five minutes before eleven and Lexi hasn't woken up yet.

_ I think she's probably really tired. _I thought. _She'll wake up in ten minutes. There's nothing to worry about._

I continued to wait for Lexi and hour after hour, waiting in patience turned to anxiety. Lexi is still not out of bed.

I finally lost it around three-thirty in the afternoon. I entered Lexi's room and walked to the bed.

Despite of Lexi communicating only in sign language, I, without trying to show anxiety, gently whispered,

"Lexi, wake up. It's three-thirty in the afternoon."

I knew that something was really wrong when I was about to gently shake Lexi awake. As soon as I put my hand down, I felt something that didn't feel like a tank top. It felt scratchy and rough and I didn't feel any signs of breathing.

I yanked off the blanket and sheets and I jumped back in shock. I wasn't looking at Lexi. I was looking at a couple of pillows to make it look like Lexi was in bed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

**(Hey, y'all. I'm so sorry that I posted the second chapter of this Halloween special story. I was just so busy with chemistry homework, school, and athletics and I didn't have enough time to work on the chapter. I promise you, the readers/viewers, that I'll post at least two chapters, if I can, tonight.**

**-imaginarytoon1)**

**Beatrice:**

I freaked out when I got a phone call from Aunt Maddie. With shaky hands, I picked up the phone and then, it slipped out of my hands, causing the batteries to fly out after landing hard on the cold floor.

_Stop shaking! _I shouted to myself, mentally. _Just talk to Aunt Maddie like there's nothing wrong!_

I quickly put the batteries back in to the phone and called Aunt Maddie. After two hums, I muttered, "Pick the phone!"  
Then, I heard a "Hello?"

"Hey, Aunt Maddie. This is Beatrice. I'm sorry for not picking up the phone earlier. The phone slipped out of my hands."

"Oh, it's okay, Beatrice. I just called to see if Lexi is doing all right." Aunt Maddie replied.

Thanks to the time when Eddie Valiant, Tommy, and I hid Roger in the sink, I came up with an improvised lie.

"Lexi is doing all right. She's taking a nap right now because we both had a long day today. We drove around town, read some books at the library, played on the playground, had lunch, and we even helped some people carry in some donated canned goods to the donation center." I lied.

Despite of this being useful (well, kind of), I felt really terrible. I mean, it's wrong to lie and whenever I do that, I feel like I don't have a heart full of honesty.

"Oh, wow! Those activities sound like fun." Aunt Maddie said. "Again, I just want to make sure if Lexi's all right and I wanted to tell you that your mom and I are hanging out at this beach pier that looks really cool. Just call me if you have any questions, 'kay?"

"Yes, ma'am." I replied.

"See you in a few days!"

We hung up.

I regretted lying to Aunt Maddie but I don't know how to explain the kidnapping of Lexi. But I didn't have a choice. If I told Aunt Maddie the truth, then she'll freak out and have a search party looking around my home and all over Houston, possibly over the United States. She and Mom will probably never trust me again.

Right now, all I can do is just walk around in circles, stare at the wall, climb on my favorite tree and hang upside down on the highest branch until I feel light-headed, and probably play sad songs on the piano without even bothering to stop, eat, drink, and even face the fact that Mom, Dad, and Aunt Maddie will be mad at me for the rest of my life.

I walked to the piano and stared out into space. While doing that, I pictured what Mom and Aunt Maddie would do once they find out about Lexi.

_I walk out of my bedroom with black circles around my eyes and my Katniss Everdeen braid in a tangled mess and I look like a wild child. Handmade 'Missing' posters are scattered all over my bedroom floor and in the hallway. _

_ Mom's car drives up to the garage and I hear Mom and Aunt Maddie shout, "WE'RE HERE!"_

_ I quickly pick up the posters and hide them underneath my bed. I ran out of my room and greeted Mom and Aunt Maddie with an unconvincing smile._

_ "Beatrice, what's happened to you? Are you all right?" Mom asked._

_ "Where's Lexi?" Aunt Maddie asked._

_ "HIDING! We're playing hide and seek! Lexi's awfully good!" I replied with a hint of frustration and craziness in my voice._

_ "Beatrice, what are you stepping on?" Mom asked after looking down._

_ I looked down at my foot and I saw that I had a poster stuck on to it._

_ "Where's Lexi, Beatrice?" Aunt Maddie asked me with anger._

_ "ALL RIGHT! I'LL ADMIT IT!" I exclaimed. "LEXI IS GONE! SOMEONE SNUCK IN THE GUEST BEDROOM AND TOOK HER AWAY! I THOUGHT THAT SHE WAS SLEEPING IN!"_

_ Then, Mom and Aunt Maddie look at me with cold, angry stares._

_ "Beatrice, you're better than that." Mom said._

_ "I even asked you-"_

My thought was interrupted by myself. I interrupted my thought by going from staring out into space to playing an angry song on the piano. The feeling of anger from one of Michael Jackson's music videos possesses my fingers and the feeling urges me to play _They Don't Really Care About Us, _written by the King of Pop himself_. _I played and played and played and played…and I didn't even stop. I continued to play _They Don't Really Care About US _until it was dark outside.

After hitting the last key to end the song, I looked at the clock that hung over the oven. It was eight-thirty at night.

_Dang! _I thought. _I didn't know that I can play that long!_

Although playing the piano usually makes me less stressed or frustrated, I was still angry with myself.

If I didn't leave the guest bedroom, then Lexi wouldn't have been kidnapped. Why can't I go back to the past and undo everything? Then, Lexi would've been safe and I wouldn't have to deal with this stressful time. And why do I have to deal with serious situations whenever I'm alone?! I could use some help from somebody right now but I don't think they'll be helpful because they'll think—

_RRRRRROWRRRR…_

I straightened up in surprise.

_What was that? _I thought.

"Who's that?" I called.

_RRRRRRRR…_

"Who's there?" I asked again nervously.

There was silence for a small period of time and then I heard the sound again. It was faint but after listening to the sound carefully, it sounded like someone was over-exaggerating a purring cat and mixing it with a whirring lawn mower.

_RRRROWRRRR!_

"All right, who's there?!" I shouted angrily.

The sound stopped making noise and something told me that something was up. I had to find the source of the sound and it was coming from outside.

I ran to my dad's office and took out a headlamp that he kept in one of his desk drawers. I strapped it around my head and turned it on. I ran to Tommy's bedroom and looked in to one of his dresser drawers. I knew that in one of Tommy's dresser drawers, there's a paintball gun hidden for defense reasons. Although I don't fully remember on how to work the paintball gun, I knew that it was a little bit better than an aluminum baseball bat.

I carefully walked to the front door and took a deep breath. I grabbed the knob and twisted it very slowly. The door squeaked a little as I slowly pulled it open. My heart was beating fast and sweat droplets were running down my forehead. I took a deep breath and stepped out of the house.

With Tommy's paintball gun ready, I closed the door, turned to my left, and ran like a military soldier on a battle field. I pointed the paintball gun to a bush and I continued to run. That's all I'm doing right now, pointing the gun at random objects and running around the house.

My face was completely covered with sweat after I ran around the house for the twenty-fifth time. When I was about to go around the house the twenty-six and a half time, something underneath the rim of the guest bedroom window caught my attention.

I carefully walked to the window and aimed the head lamp at it. There were at least eight to nine scratch marks that led to the bottom of the window and four oval-shaped footprints on the ground. They displayed the idea of someone walking to and away from the window. In every footprint, there was a thick straight line that would've divided the footprints by thirds. I even saw two dots on the upper half and one dot that crossed the middle and lower half of the footprints. Right beside the footprints, there was wavy line that looked like a giant snake had slithered on my property.

As if I was a part of the crime show _CSI, _I did a close-up witness point of view flashback thing in my head. I saw…Smarty walk to the window and then, he opens the window and climbs into the guest bedroom. He climbs out of the window with Lexi in a burlap sack and drags her away.

I stopped doing the flashback sequence when I realized that I was thinking of the impossible again.

After deciding to move on with my life, without worrying about the Toon Patrol, I walked back in to the house, locked the door, and collapsed on the couch in exhaustion. The paintball gun landed on the floor with a small THUD.

Then, I heard the _RRRROWRRR_ noise again.

"WHO'S THERE?!" I exclaimed.

After yelling, I heard somebody knocking and shaking the door. I quietly walked back to the door and slowly, I opened it.

"Who's there?" I called out in the dark.

(**To be continued...)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

**Beatrice:**

Like a house cat pouncing on a mouse, something in orange and black stripes pounces on me and I felt like I just hit by my grandmother's minivan. The creature and I literally roll into the living room a couple of times and Tommy's paintball gun was knocked out of my hands. I stopped rolling into the living when the creature pinned me down to the floor and stood up on my hips.

I was really happy (because he was one of my favorite Disney characters when I was kid), confused (because I have no idea how he came from the world of animation and to here), and surprised (because…obviously…he knocked me down) when I got a better look of the creature and heard him say,

"Hello! I'm Tigger!"

In my head, I shouted _TIGGER?! _But out loud, I chuckled a little bit and said,

"You startled me!"

"Yeah, sure I did!" Tigger replied and laughed. "Everyone's scared of tiggers! And who are you?"

_Your biggest fan, I guess. _I thought.

"I'm Beatrice." I said.

"Oh, Beatrice. Hoo-hoo-hoo, sure…uh…what's a Beatrice?" Tigger asked me and pressed his nose against mine. Do you think that there was such thing as bad breath in the world of Winnie The Pooh? (I probably digressed, sorry.)

"You're standing on one." I replied.

"I am?" Tigger asked and then, he stepped off of me.

Then, he grabs my hand and shakes it.

"Glad to meet you. I'm Tigger, T-I-double-GUH-ER. That spells 'Tigger'." He said to me as I sat up and smiled.

I couldn't believe it! My favorite childhood character is standing in the middle of my family's living room! But how did he manage to leave the animated world and come in the world of reality? That's the big question.

But I didn't want to ask Tigger that. So, I decided to ask him,

"So, uh, what's the most wonderful thing about yourself?"

I know, y'all. It sounds kind of childish to ask that but I wanted to.

"Oh, boy, you asked for it!" Tigger exclaimed.

After a small chuckle, Tigger sings his signature song while dancing and bouncing around the living room.

_"The wonderful thing about tiggers,_

_ Is tiggers are wonderful things!"_

He stops dancing and stretches his face a little and continues to sing,

_"Their tops are made out of rubber _(Tigger begins to bounce around me)_,_

_ Their bottoms are made out of springs!"_

Tigger grabs my wrist and he spins me around a little bit.

_"They're bouncy, 'trouncy', 'flouncy', 'pouncy',_

_ FUN, FUN, FUN, FUN, FUN!_

_ But the most wonderful thing about tiggers is I'm the only one!_

_ IIII'M THE ONLY ONE!"_

Then, Tigger stops singing and growls.

The last part of Tigger's song always made me confused. In animation, being the only one sounds like a good thing but when you're in the world of reality, being the only one of your own kind sounds like a bad thing. You're considered endangered or something like that.

All of the sudden, Tigger jumps in surprise after seeing his reflection on a mirror that was hung in the living room.

"What a strange-looking creature." He exclaimed and started to examine himself, almost reminding me either of the myth of Narcissus and Echo or a male cardinal being territorial with everything (even its reflection.). "Look at those beady little eyes, and that 'purrposterous' chin…" Tigger walks up to the mirror and touches it. "…and those 'rickydickorous' striped pajamas."

I rolled my eyes and decided to play with Tigger's behavior.

"Looks like another tigger to me." I smirked.

Tigger frowned and replied, "Oh, no, it's not. I'M the ONLY tigger. Watch me scare the stripes off of this imposter."

He chuckles and spins back to his reflection. He growls at it and scares himself. Tigger leaps away from the mirror and hides under the couch, leaving his tail sticking out.

"Is-Is-Is…Is he gone?" Tigger asked me, nervously.

I stifle a giggle, rolled my eyes, and replied, "All except the tail."

Tigger tucks in his tail.

"All right, Tigger, he's gone." I said.

I receive no reply.

"Tigger?" I asked.

I turned on my headlamp and looked under the couch. Tigger was nowhere to be seen. I got back on my feet and scratched my head.

"Huh!" I scoffed. "Where did he go?"

Then, I was pinned down on the floor again by Tigger.

"Hello! I'm Tigger!" He said.

"I think you already said that." I replied.

Tigger walks off of me and rubs his stomach.

"Oh? Well, did I say that I was hungry?" He asked.

"Nnno." I said.

"Well then, I'll say it: I'm hungry."

Thanks to childhood times, I knew that Tigger doesn't like honey…at all. In fact, I'm not sure what Tigger likes to eat.

"Do you like black beans?" I asked.

I don't what made me ask Tigger if he liked black beans. I just blurted it out without thinking.

"BLACK BEANS?! OH, BOY! THAT'S WHAT TIGGERS LIKE BEST!" Tigger shouted loudly. He probably said that loud enough to wake up the neighborhood.

"Okaaay," I said. "I'll go ahead and make some black beans. Will you be a good tigger and wait?"

Tigger plops down on the couch and crosses his arms with a smile.

I walked to the kitchen and grabbed a can of black beans, a spoon, a bowl and a can opener. I poured the beans into the bowl and heated them up in the microwave. I waited and waited until I heard the humming of the microwave stopped.

After stirring the steaming hot beans, I grabbed a cheese grater and a small block of cheddar cheese. I rubbed the cheese on the grater and sprinkled a little bit of it on the beans. I stirred the beans a little bit and brought the bowl to the living room.

I gave Tigger the bowl and he helped himself to big scoops of black beans. After chewing on the beans, his face wrinkled like he sucked on seven WarHeads and yelled, "YUUUCK! TIGGERS DON'T LIKE BLACK BEANS!" He places the bowl of black beans on the floor and begins to wipe his mouth with his hands.

"Wait a minute; you said that you liked them!" I exclaimed.

"Ugh, that icky stuff is only fit for HEFFALUMPS AND WOOZLES!" Tigger replied.

_HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT TO THE BLACK BEAN DISHES! _I thought. _THEY'RE DELICIOUS!_

"Don't you mean 'elephants' and 'weasels'?" I asked.

"That's what I said, heffalumps and woozles." Tigger replied.

I rolled my eyes and put the bowl of black beans on the kitchen counter.

"They don't do much…" Tigger continued and wiped his hands on his lap. "…and they like to steal beans."

"STEAL BEANS?!" I exclaimed.

"Yep!"

"Who would want to steal beans? I mean, you're saying it like they're valuable. I got news for you, Tigger. Gold is valuable but beans aren't! Why?! Because there are bean plants and there's an abundance of beans in the United States." Then, I started to think about how Tigger would react and I decided to let him believe in some childish creatures. "But if you're serious, then I'll keep a close eye on my beans. Don't want any heffalumps to steal my beans."

"Yeah, keep an eye on your beans!"

Tigger jumps off the couch and was getting to bounce away. Instead of bouncing away, Tigger exclaimed,

"Oh, before I go, I came here to give you a letter from the Toon Patrol!"

"The TOON PATROL?!" I exclaimed.

Tigger slips his hand in between the cushion of couch and pulls out a messy and wrinkled envelope. He hands me the letter and then, while singing his signature song, Tigger bounces to the front door (which was still open) and exits the house. He didn't even close the door behind him and I closed the door.

"I knew it!" I said. "I knew that Lexi's kidnapping had something to do with the Toon Patrol! But why would they leave me a letter?"

I walked to the kitchen and grabbed a knife. After cutting open the envelope, two familiar smells came out of it, cologne and strong but foul smelling cigarettes. Both of those smells lingered on the sheet of paper.

I carefully unfolded the letter and this is what the letter said:

**We got your little sister!**

…They think that Lexi's my little sister…but I continued to read.

** If you ever want to see her again, then meet us in the middle of Gallagher Woods and talk about business.**

** You have forty-five minutes!**

** -Smarty, Greasy, Wheezy, Psycho, and Stupid, members of the Toon Patrol**

Gallagher Woods?! That's considered the most haunted place in Houston! And I can't believe that the Toon Patrol is holding Lexi hostage and probably even kill her!

I can't handle this on my own! I need help from police.

I grabbed the phone and was about to dial 911 but I stopped when something else on the letter catches my attention.

**PS: If you bring any friends or the police, then you won't see your sister again.**

I put the phone back and I looked at the clock over the oven. It was nine fifteen.

I sighed and thought,

_If I can't get anyone else involved, then I'm going to find Lexi by myself. I won't let the weasels harm a single hair on my little cousin. If I find a scratch on Lexi, then the Toon Patrol will have to deal with me and I'll be their worst nightmare._

I ran to my room and looked through my closet for a light coat or a hoodie that'll help me stay warm in the woods. I found one of my old over-sized school hoodies and put it on.

After fixing my hood, I ran back to the kitchen and grab a small sandwich bag. I ran to the guest bedroom and opened Lexi's suitcase. I found a small bottle of allergy ointment and put it in the sandwich bag.

I ran back to the kitchen again and took out a waterproof flashlight from one of the drawers. I stuffed it in my pocket and I found the headlamp still strapped on to my head.

Then, I ran back to my room and grabbed my old tennis racquet. Imitating my dad before leaving the house as a police officer, I looked at my reflection on my bedroom mirror, put on a serious look on my face, and saluted myself.

I walked to the front door, opened it, and walked a couple steps on the porch.

_Hang in there, Lexi. _I thought and turned on my head lamp. _Help is on the way and I won't let the weasels hurt you. _

I walked off the porch and I disappeared into the darkness in front of me.


	5. Chapter 5 part one

**Chapter Five part one**

**(I just want to let you know…again…that if any parts of my story scare you and make it hard for you to sleep at night, then I'm sorry. Sometimes I get too carried away when it comes to writing stories.**

** -imaginarytoon1**

**PS: I'll post the second part of this chapter tomorrow night.)**

**Beatrice:**

While I walked down the road where Old Lady Juanita lived with thirty-four cats, both house and stray, I remembered the time when one of my old friends, Harold Offenbach, told me how Gallagher Woods was born as the most haunted place to wonder around in Houston if you were cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs for Halloween.

Harold told me that during the Industrial Revolution, there was this old man, who was known by the name 'William T. Gallagher', who liked poppies a lot. He planted them in some particular spot in the woods and even gave the poppies names, as if they were his children and grandchildren. With only two people as exceptions, no one else knew why Gallagher lived in the middle of the woods. Some people thought that Gallagher liked to keep to himself and he likes to stay in quiet environments but others say that Gallagher practiced witchcraft and used it to keep his poppy garden alive in every season, including winter. Rumors say that after Gallagher died, his poppy garden died with him after he was buried next to his house, making the soil no longer good enough for flowers. Old Lady Pearlman would often say that the spirit of William T. Gallagher lingers around the middle of the woods and if he senses anyone wandering around his property with a good, strong heart, then Gallagher's ghost would grant good luck to the person. No one knew what Gallagher's ghost would do if he found a person with negativity until thirteen years ago when a group of middle school boys discovered that their pockets with endless amounts of earthworms in their pockets and ended up seeing a man (that sort of looked like the zombie version of Michael Jackson from his _Thriller _music video) disappearing and reappearing in their heads until they went to college.

After hearing that, my curiosity led me to the middle of the woods and I tried many times to see Gallagher's ghost. One of my searches led me to a skinny stick scratching the ground, leaving me a message that said,

_Nice try, little innocent child. _

_Although your heart is good, I don't want to reveal myself right now. _

_Someday I will. _

_Be good._

_ -W.T. Gallagher_

I stopped looking for him later.

Sorry for getting carried away right there. I'll go back to the story.

Right now, I'm approaching the Gallagher's woods. I looked at the numerous amounts of trees and a small trail that looks like it leads to nowhere. I want to turn back and forget about this but Lexi is in the middle of the woods and the Toon Patrol is probably doing some bad things to her.

"ALL RIGHT, YOU WEASELS!" I exclaimed. "I GOT YOUR MESSAGE! I'M COMING RIGHT NOW AND BRINGING BACK MY COUSIN! IF I FIND A SCRATCH ON MY COUSIN, YOU'RE IN FOR A WHOLE LOT OF TROUBLE!"

Without thinking, I began to run down the trail. Crickets were chirping, my heart was beating fast, and the wind blew on my face and through my ears. The trees looked like blurs and spider webs were smacked on to my face like a bug flying into a car window.

I finally stopped and started to wipe of the spider webs that were smacked on to my face. I even smacked myself because I wasn't sure if a spider crawled on to my face. Despite of me being tomboy, I really don't like spiders. They're just eight-legged bugs that just do nothing but crawl around and eat things that are smaller than them.

All of the sudden, I heard leaves rustling, as if something was running through the woods. I froze up in surprise and looked around. I heard a person with a scratchy voice laugh briefly.

"Who's there?" I asked.

I receive no reply.

"If you're trying to scare me, Smarty, then don't even think about trying again. I'm not backing out at the last minute!" I exclaimed.

I continued to walk and it started to get really cold.

_TYPICAL TEMPERATURE CHANGES! _I thought. _I THINK THAT'S USED TOO MANY TIMES IN HORROR MOVIES._

In a horror movie, if it was cold outside, then that usually means that something really bad is going to happen. If you were in the woods, your mind begins to play tricks on you, your heart begins to beat at a very fast pace, and your eyes are always on a lookout for anything that could pop out on you.

I got my tennis racquet ready when I heard the laugh again. The laugh didn't sound like Tigger, obviously.

The wind began to blow and the branches swung along with the breeze. For a second, I thought I heard a voice that told me to go back while listening to the branches.

_No, I'm not turning back. _I thought.

Then, I started to smell something. The smell smells like…roses. I don't think that Gallagher planted roses on his property. Maybe, he did. I don't know.

As I continued to walk, I noticed that my feet were feeling heavy…like I could literally drag them on the ground. Then, the rosy smell grows stronger and stronger and I noticed that my eyelids were opening and closing as my eyes were tearing up and rolling back.

_What is going on here? _I thought. _I don't know if I can walk anymore._

I'm not letting that smell possess me and I continue to walk, despite of feeling really tired.

I aimed my headlight to the ground and I started to see something grow out of the ground. A green stem grows out of the ground and bright red pedals grow on top of the stem and they open up. It was a flower, which seemed impossible because the soil in Gallagher Woods isn't suited for flowers anymore…

**(To be continued…)**


	6. Attention Notice

**Attention, readers,**

**I know that the first part of chapter said that I was going to upload a chapter tonight. Unfortunately, due to chemistry test and coming home late, I don't really have a lot of time to work on the second part of the chapter. So, try to hang on until tomorrow night (10-09-2013) and I promise to go back on uploading chapters during the night time hours and during the weekends.**

**I'm sorry to keep you waiting.**

**-imaginarytoon1**


	7. Chapter Five part two

**Chapter Five part two**

**(Sorry for the wait. I'll try to do better on uploading chapters during night time hours and weekends. **

…**and now, we return to **_**The Birchwood Twin(s): Halloween Special.**_

**-imaginarytoon1)**

**Beatrice:**

After seeing four more flowers sprout from the ground, my eyes rolled back one more time and I had to shut my eyes and shake my head. Instead of things getting better, things began to get worse. After opening my teary eyes, I watched the red flowers PULL THEMSELVES out of the ground and began to float up in to the air.

_Why are the roses flying? _I thought.

Then, after getting a better look, I realized that I wasn't looking at roses. I was looking at…poppies. Thanks to my grandfather's gardening book, I learn that roses have a deep blood (or maybe a pomegranate wine) red pedals but poppies have a brighter red color. But the question is: how are there poppies in the woods if the soil isn't good enough for them?

After asking myself that, I noticed the changes of the flowers. The stems shrivel up and dissolve into dust while the pedals slowly transform into giant, plastic-looking, cartoon bubbles. The color of bubbles transform from red to purple-pinkish color and the bubbles began to mold into the shape of cartoon elephants. The elephants walk around in front of me and then, they smiled.

I closed my eyes and shook my head again, thinking that I've gone mad. I opened my eyes again and the elephants were still there and they began to multiply. I heard surrealistic music playing and the elephants lined up and used their trunks as trumpets, playing a familiar tune.

_OH NO! _I thought. _I'M SEEING PINK ELEPHANTS! LITERALLY!_

As the music began to build up, I attempted to run away from the elephants. Unfortunately, I bumped in to a tree and landed on my back. While trying to get back on my feet, I continued to hear that dreadful song, _Pink Elephants On Parade, _play. I didn't like the sound of that tune at all.

When I heard a cymbal crash, I noticed that I got back on my feet. Then, I saw more pink elephants making their appearances; they began to walk around me as if we were playing ring-around-the-rosie with a person standing the middle of the circle. While I acted like I was just coming back to life from going through wisdom teeth surgery, the circle of elephants started to get smaller and smaller. I didn't like the idea of getting crowded in the middle of the circle.

I tried to push the elephants out of the way but they wouldn't even stop walking around me and making their circle tighter and tighter.

_Look out! Look out!_

OH NO! I'M HEARING VOICES! THEY SHOULDN'T SING THAT! THINGS ARE ALREADY GETTING WEIRD!

_Pink elephants on parade, here they come!_

_ Hippity hoppety!_

_ They're here!_

The elephants look at me and then, they scattered themselves around the woods.

_They're there!_

_ Pink elephants EVERYWHERE!_

At first, when I saw the elephants disappear, I was relieved but I was wrong when I heard the voices singing again.

_Look out! Look out!_

_ They're walking around the bed,_

_ ON THEIR HEAD!_

I looked up and I saw the elephants walking around in the air while they're upside down. I immediately made a run for it, trying not to run into any trees.

_Clippety cloppety!_

_ Arrayed in braid,_

_ Pink elephants on parade!_

_ What'll I do? What'll I do?_

_ WHAT AN UNUSUAL VIEW!_

The elephants began to fade after I tripped on a root of a tree and landed face-first on the ground.

As I was slowly lifting my head, the scenery of the woods began to change into a blue watercolor background. I heard more voices but this time, they were singing something else.

_Heffalumps and woozles…_

_ HEFFALUMPS AND WOOZLES…_

Oh no!

_Steal beans…_

_ Beware…beware…_

All of the sudden, four cans of black beans pop out of nowhere and they surround me as soon I got back on my feet again.

_They're black!_

_ They're brown!_

_ They're UP!_

_ They're down!_

The black bean cans shuffle towards me…

_They're IN!_

…then, they scoot back…

_They're out!_

…fly around me…

_They're ALL ABOUT!_

…compress me…

_They're near!_

…fly away from me…

_They're far!_

…and disappear before my eyes.

_They're gone!_

_ They're here!_

_ They're quick,_

_ And slick,_

_ They're insincere!_

The black bean cans suddenly re-appear behind me and I ran away from them as soon as they began to sing,

_Beware!_

_ Beware!_

_ Beware, beware, beware!_

I ran into a giant green and yellow plaid elephant. It picks me up and whacks me away with its trunk. I landed on a giant pile of leaves.

_A heffalump or woozle,_

_ Is very…'confusel'._

The elephant transforms into a weasel and then, a creature with a giant elephant head on a weasel's body.

_A heffalump or woozle's very sly,_

_ Sly!  
Sly!_

_ Sly!_

I felt something tap my shoulder and turned around. I saw one elephant standing by me and with a sly grin on its face, it began to multiply.

_They come in ones or 'two-sels'._

_ But if they so 'choozels',_

_ Before your eyes,_

_ You'll see them multiply!_

_ -ply, -ply, -ply!_

The elephants surround me and they began to push me around.

_They're 'extra-ordinary'!_

_ So better 'bewarey'!_

_ Because they come in every shape and size!_

Before I knew it, the elephants transform into weasels, then back to their original forms, and they finally transform into cans of black beans.

_If beans are what you covet,_

_ You'll find that they love it!_

The cans of black beans open up by themselves and I saw elephants and weasels with spoons in their hands and eating the beans straight out of their cans.

_Because they guzzle up the thing you prize!_

Then, an explosion blinds me for a second and I saw an elephant and a weasel dancing together and transforming into things as I heard the singing black bean cans sing their various forms.

_They're green!_

_ They're blue!_

_ They're pink!_

_ They're white!_

_ They're round!_

_ They're square!_

_ They're a terrible sight!_

_ They tie themselves into horrible knots!_

The elephant and weasel freeze into a pose.

_They come in stripes!_

_ And polka dots!_

The weasel and elephant disappear and the singing group of black beans disappear and reappear before my eyes.

_Beware! _

_ Beware!_

_ Beware, beware, beware!_

I ran around the scenery as I had to experience elephants and weasels dancing around and playing random instruments. A giant stove pot with a lid on top WALKED towards me and I carefully lifted the lid. It goes crazy and I quickly put the lid back on the pot.

I grabbed my tennis racquet and I carefully tried to walk away from the parading elephants and weasels. I was prepared to swing my racquet in defense when I felt something tap on my shoulder.

An elephant-headed creature with a bumblebee's body grabs my tennis racquet and I held on to the handle as the elephant-bee thing tries to shake me off. Then, two jack-in-boxes sprouted out of the ground and two weasels, who both represented Stupid, pop out, causing me to release the handle of the racquet in shock and surprise.

After landing on my feet, I immediately started to chase after the elephant-bee creature. When I finally caught up with it, I grabbed the tennis racquet and I tripped on a tree root. I fell into a puddle and I began to sink.

My head began to spin and mental images were getting mixed and shuffled like playing cards. I blinked several times and the blue watercolor background dissolves into reality. The effects of smelling the poppies were wearing off.

I realized that I fell into a river and I was getting pushed by a strong current. My headlamp shuts off and I am forced to swim up to the surface and try to grab something strong that would lead me to dry land.

My luck came when I felt someone grab my arms and began to pull me. A couple of times, my head would go underwater and then, it would come back out. I was so worn out that I didn't even use my legs to make this rescue easy for the person who was pulling me out of the water.

I kind of passed out in relief when I heard my body getting dragged on dirty ground and I was lying flat on my back, breathing hard. While I regaining my senses, I saw a man, who looked like Richard Briers (in his elderly age), with a glowing light around him and he wore white overalls and a white shirt.

"Innocent child, are you okay?" The man asked.

"Yes, sir." I whispered. "Thanks for helping me."

The old man smiled a nice smile, kissed me on my forehead, and disappeared.

_Was I saved by the ghost of William T. Gallagher?! _I thought.


	8. Chapter 6 part one

**Chapter Six**

**(Before you begin the chapter, I would like to say that I give credit to the guy who wrote **_**Secret Of Survival **_**for the awesome movie: **_**Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.**_** I even give credit to the guy who wrote various songs for the various **_**Winnie The Pooh **_**movies.**

**All right, that's all!)**

**Beatrice:**

When I was beginning to regain my strength, I began to think over the activities that happened before I got dragged out of the river by Gallagher's ghost, just in case if I might've hit my head too hard. Let's see: My name is Beatrice Elaine Birchwood…I'm seventeen years old…I have a twin brother named Tommy…I got myself and Tommy in the world where Toons coexist with humans… I found out that Lexi was kidnapped by the Toon Patrol…Tigger invited himself over to my house and gave me a letter…the letter was from the weasels…I leave my house…ran through Gallagher Woods…heard someone laughing…I smelled poppies and began to hallucinate…Yep, my memory's still good.

Right now, I am regaining my strength and checking my hoodie pocket. Thankfully, the sandwich bag with Lexi's allergy ointment was still in it, along with the waterproof flashlight. Even my tennis racquet was beside me.

I still don't have any idea on how I hallucinated after smelling poppies. I mean, there just flowers but I don't know why I hallucinated. My allergy records don't say anything about hallucinating after smelling flowers.

Anyway, I got back on my feet and became familiar with the area after turning on my flashlight. I saw seven mounds of dirt in front of the house, littered with dead plants, and one big mound with a tomb stone on top. I knew where I was…I have been carried to William T. Gallagher's house by Gallagher's ghost.

I wasn't sure if I was getting good luck when I heard a familiar cackle. I turned around to see and I didn't see anybody.

"Well, well, well," I heard Wheezy's voice say to me.

"If it isn't the broad." I heard Smarty say to me. Although I don't see them, I can hear them just fine.

I stood in a fighting stance and I prepared to swing my tennis racquet.

"I'm not afraid you guys." I said with a mixture of courage and nervousness. "My little cousin wants my help and I came here to take her back home."

I heard Smarty chuckle.

"'Help'?" He asked in a mocking tone.

"Yeah." I replied.

Then I turned around and I saw the Toon Patrol. They were standing like they were in the Terminal Station when they figured that Roger was hiding there. Smarty was grinning evilly, Greasy was standing behind him (he was behind Smarty but he is on Smarty's right side), Pyscho was standing in front of Wheezy with a big crazy grin on his face, Stupid was looking at me with an evil smug on his face and whacked his left hand with his baseball bat, and Wheezy was also looking at me evilly, even while he had a coughing fit.

"Listen here, little girl," Wheezy began in a raspy voice. "In a place like this in this world, even outside of the woods, there's no such thing as helping other people."

"Oh, yes, there is." I said.

"No, there isn't." Smarty said.

"Yes, there is, Boss." Stupid interrupted. I guess he couldn't stay serious too long.

Smarty turns to Stupid and hits him on the head.

"Shut up!" Smarty said. "But anyway, everyone is out for 'them-shelves'. Take us, for 'es-scapel'."

Wheezy puts his forefinger and his thumb in his mouth and whistles to somebody that I didn't see.

Then, I heard ominous music beginning to play.

"What is-?" I began to say.

Then, I realized that there was another musical number coming up. I knew that I wasn't going to listen to any ordinary song…I was going to listen to a villain song.

"_First, you see us..._" The weasels began.

"_Then, you don't!" _

A bright light flashed and the Toon Patrol disappeared before my eyes.

"_Now, you hear us…_" I heard the Toon Patrol's voices say to me, echoing.

"_Now, you won't!" _The voices said to me, barely even in a whisper.

Another bright light flashes and the next thing that I knew was that the Toon Patrol was surrounding me with evil grins on their faces and having their eyes aiming at my face (I did my best to not show any fear on my face and try to find Lexi and bring her back home.).

"_It's our secret of survival in a very nasty world!" _All members sang to me and I took off running.

I ran into something invisible and felt ten hands touching my back and my shoulders.

"_Now, you feel us! Now, you can't!" _

The hands stop touching me and I turned back to the weasels, who were lined up in a single file line.

"_Are we REAL?" _They sang to me.

"I don't think so." I immediately replied.

"_Perhaps we aren't!" _Smarty exclaimed.

Then, immediately, all five weasels spun around in circles and disappear into nothing. I watched in surprise.

"_It's our secret of survival in a very nasty world! It's our secret of survival in a very nasty world!" _ All weasels sang in unison.

"Oh, come on!" I exclaimed. "The world's not all bad! There's some good, too!"

"Oh, yes, the world is definitely nasty!" Smarty replied, although he isn't seen. I began to look for the weasels and try not to have any of them sneak up and surprise me.

"_It's nastier than you can ever dream of!" _All weasels sang.

The upper half of Psycho's body drops down from a tree branch and I was almost bumped in the face.

"_From up above!" _Pyscho exclaimed.

"_And from beneath!" _Greasy said.

I looked down to my right and I saw Greasy lying down on the ground with a dead flower in his hand. I jumped back in surprise.

"_Eyes and jaws!" _Stupid exclaimed.

Then, I felt Wheezy (I knew because of his bad, smoky breath) grab my wrist, twist it back, and used his free hand to represent his part of the song.

"_Claws and teeth!" _Wheezy coughed and flashed his disgusting yellow teeth. He released me after the other weasels came back to singing in unison.

"_Ready to attack you, you're not a snack, but you better run!" _The weasels said in unison.

I began to run but Psycho tripped me and Smarty grabbed me by the collar of my hoodie.

"_Don't go walking in the woods…" _Smarty pulls out his pistol with his free hand and aims it at my right temple. "…_if you haven't got a GUN!" _

I prepared to face the excruciating pain of the bullet but all I heard was a CLICK. Nothing was shot out. Smarty drops me and I ran to the closest tree while Smarty and the other weasels laughed. I began to climb to the thickest branch of the tree while the weasels still continued to sing their song.

"_Every creature for survival has to look out for itself!_

_Got no aunties here, no grannies here,_

_To look after your health!_

_Girl, you're in the wood!_

_And every person could,_

_Tell you that you've got no business to be here!"_

I grabbed the wrong branch and it snapped. I fell down ten feet and I listen to the weasels vocalizing an 'Ahh', not making things any better. Thankfully, I landed on a thick pile of leaves and I didn't get seriously injured. After getting back on my feet, I saw Psycho wrap me around in this silky, blood red cloth.

"_First, you see us! Then, you don't!" _Smarty, Wheezy, Stupid, and Greasy sang.

Psycho places his left hand on my head and he pulls the cloth really hard. His hand was off my head when I started spinning around Gallagher's house like a top. I seriously didn't think that the real world could integrate with the laws of scientific physics and Toon physics (I'm saying this because no human on Earth can spin around a house like a top.).

"_Now, you hear us! Now, you won't!" _

After the weasels said 'won't', I stopped spinning and I started to see two of every Toon Patrol member.

"_It's our secret of survival in a very nasty world!"_

The Toon Patrol surrounds me and they push me around, making the dizziness slightly less better.

"_Now you feel us!" _Smarty said after he caught me by my shoulders. "_Now you can't!" _

Smarty drops me and I land on a thin layer of leaves.

Then, all five of the weasels got their faces in to my personal face space and with evil grins, they exclaimed,

"_Are we REAL? Perhaps we aren't!"_

They all jump back and turn their backs on me. I got up on my feet again and began to back away. The weasels turn back towards me and they surround me again. As the weasels continued to sing, their voices grew louder and louder by the second as they danced.

"_It's our secret of survival,_

_It's OUR SECRET OF SURVIVAL…"_

Every Toon Patrol member grabs a handful of leaves.

"_IT'S OUR SECRET OF SURVIVAL IN A VERY NASTY WORLD!"_

**(To be continued…)**


	9. Chapter 6 part two

**Chapter Six part two**

**Beatrice:**

After the Toon Patrol threw their handfuls of leaves in the air as soon as the song was over (it was catchy but the choreography needed a lot of work), I crossed my arms and left my eyes half-opened/half-closed. I'm giving them the face of irritation.

"Say, why aren't you scared?" Smarty exclaimed angrily.

I turned to him.

"First of all," I began, "you probably just heard that song from another movie. Second of all, if you were trying to scare me, I have to say that it takes more than a song to get me scared. Third of all, you want to discuss business with me and I would like to know what you wanted to discuss. And…"

I stopped talking and I began to think of another reason.

"Fourth of all…" Smarty said.

"I know what comes after three!" I said. "I was about to say that I'm here for my cousin and I'm taking her back home…fourth of all."

As soon as I mentioned Lexi, I watched all of the weasels, except Stupid (who is just staring at me), look at me with shock and anxiety.

"Duh, did you say 'cousin'?" Stupid asked me.

"Yeah." I replied.

Every member of the Toon Patrol began to exchange frightened, confused, and shocked glances at each other.

"You know what I'm talking about." I said. "I'm talking about a little girl who you kidnapped and probably stuffed her in a burlap sack."

"Oh, yeah." Smarty said and smirked. "I told the little pipsqueak to wait behind that tree over there."

I was about to walk to the tree that stood just fifteen feet behind Wheezy but I had a feeling that something was going to jump out and scare the living lights out of me.

"Well, go ahead." Smarty insisted.

I walked over to the tree with caution and I said,

**Lexi, are you there?**

When I was five feet away from the tree, I heard a hissing sound.

**Lexi, be careful where you're stepping. **I said. **I just heard a snake.**

As I approached to the tree, I heard two Toon Patrol members snicker. I knew that something was up. I heard the hissing again and I turned on my flashlight. I aimed it at the trunk and I saw four green, both dark and light, strips running horizontally on a slithering legless body.

I heard Smarty snicker evilly.

Carefully, I picked up a harmless little garter snake and I walked backed to the Toon Patrol (with Greasy not present) while the snake slithered in between my fingers.

"Really, Smarty?" I exclaimed. "Is that the best you can do?"

Smarty stopped snickering and looked at me with shock.

"What the-? You're not scared of 'stakes'?" Smarty exclaimed.

"I'm not afraid of _snakes_ and it takes more than a snake to scare me." I said and put the snake into a pile of leaves. "I don't have time for this. Where is my little cousin?"

"Your cousin is right here. I just brought her over." Greasy said while he walked with his hand behind…Lexi. "Go on, _niña inocente. _Here's your cousin."

Lexi's face goes from terror to joy. She ran towards me and hugged me like I just came back from a war.

I got down on my knees and asked Lexi,

**Are you all right? Did they hurt you? I'm sorry that I didn't believe you about the Toon Patrol.**

Lexi replied,

**I'm okay but I have a big rash on my left arm. It's itchy.**

While I took out Lexi's medicine and started spreading the medicine on her rash, Smarty exclaimed,

"How can you understand the little pipsqueak if she can't even talk?!"

I looked at him with a serious look on my face and said,

"It's because Lexi can only communicate with her hands and head. If she wants to have a conversation, then Lexi uses her hands to talk. If you ask her a yes or no question, then she'll shake or nod her head."

"What kind of language is that?"

"It's called 'sign language', you meathead." I snapped.

"And why are you even rubbing that stuff on her arm?" Smarty asked.

"Lexi has an allergy to poison oak. It seems that you weren't being smart enough to look out for her and you let her run around in a patch of poison oak."

"See, boss?" Wheezy asked with a cigarette burning in his mouth. "I told you that there was something wrong when I found that rash on the pipsqueak."

After I stopped rubbing the medicine on Lexi's arm, I turned to Smarty.

"Since there's no specific business to discuss, I'll be taking Lexi back home." I said and began to walk away.

"Stop right there, you broad." Smarty said and then, he takes Lexi away from me and puts his hands on her shoulders. "Your cousin is not going back with you to your home. She's coming with us to Toon Town."

"What?! Why?!" I exclaimed.

"She 'flailed' to communicate 'gerbil-ly' with us and didn't accept to do a challenge."

"What challenge? Is that the reason why you kidnapped Lexi?!"

"Well, *cough, cough!* we were actually going to kidnap you," Wheezy said while smoking on more cigarettes, "but when we found your cousin, we figured that she'll do."

"And the challenge was that your little cousin was going to spend one whole day and night in that house without backing out." Greasy jumped in.

"But what are you planning to do with Lexi once you take her to Toon Town?" I asked.

"We haven't decided yet." Smarty replied. "Like the 'tot' of kidnapping you, we 'tot' that if you didn't accept or lose the challenge, then we would take you to Toon Town and make you pay back for what we had to go through after you 'cleft' the hospital. But since we got your cousin, we'll make her do the paying back."

I just couldn't believe this. It sounds really, really wrong.

"Smarty, that sounds like the dumbest scheme that I've ever heard." I said. "And if Lexi didn't want to do the challenge, then she has a very good reason."

Smarty looked at me with a mixture of suspicion and surprise.

"So, are you saying that-?" He asked.

"Yes, I'll take Lexi's place in the challenge." I said.

If I were Katniss Everdeen, then I would've said "I volunteer as Tribute" to Smarty.

"I don't know about this, boss." Wheezy coughed.

"How about this?" I asked. "I'll take Lexi's place in the challenge and I'll do it without backing out. If I win, then I will take Lexi back home and you don't show yourselves around these parts again and never bother us. How does that sound?"

Smarty looked at me, then the other members of the Toon Patrol, and at Lexi. He began to think over my suggestion and then, he smiled an evil smile.

"That sounds good but what would you do if you LOST the challenge?" Smarty asked.

I looked at Lexi and she, in fear and concern, shakes her head no. I aim my eyes back at Smarty and I sighed.

"If I lose…" I began. "…then you take Lexi back home and you can take me back to Toon Town. Punch me, hit me, torture me, do whatever you want…but I'm not letting you hurt Lexi."

"Hmm…that sounds good." Smarty said.

"Do we have a deal?" I asked and held out my hand.

Smarty looks at my hand with a frown on his face and then, he looks at me. Reluctantly, Smarty held out his own hand and said,

"It's a deal."

And we shook on it.


	10. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

**Beatrice:**

Lexi didn't look very happy after I shook hands with Smarty. After the Toon Patrol left us alone (Smarty wanted to leave me and Lexi alone for a few minutes, probably because he is letting me say any last words to Lexi, in case if I'm not going to see her again), Lexi walked over to me and said,

**Why did you have to do that? I'll be all right, even if I lost the challenge****.**

I replied,

**No, you wouldn't be all right. If you lost the challenge, then the Toon Patrol will probably do horrible things to you. They might even try to kill you.**

Lexi looked at me with horror.

**Really? **She asked.

**Yeah. **I replied. **And I even promised myself and your mom that I would keep a close eye on you and I wouldn't let anyone to do bad things to you. That's why I'm taking your place in the challenge.**

** But what if you lose? What if you die?**

** I'm not going to die but if I do, then I want you to remember the things that I've done to help you and I want you to tell my mom and your that I died trying to save you. I want you to remember that, okay?**

Lexi looks at me with the saddest face that I've ever seen and she hugs me. When she stops, she says to me, almost like Rue (from _The Hunger Games_) with her hands trembling,

**Please win, Beatrice. You have to win.**

** I will win…**I replied…**I will win for both of us. I will get us out of here…I promise. Be a good girl while I do the challenge, okay?**

Lexi nodded her head nervously and we hugged again.

We walked over to Smarty and he crossed his arms.

"Okay, Smarty. I'm ready to do the challenge. Where do I have to start?" I asked.

"Hold on, hold on." Wheezy said. "We're still trying to decide if you're going to do the challenge that we thought of first. *cough, cough, cough!* So first, you're going to hit the hay and Boss will tell you in the morning."

"You're not going back to your house because there's a 'clearance' that you'll escape from us." Smarty said.

_Rats! _I thought. _He's one step ahead of me. And he should have said 'chance' instead of 'clearance'._

"But to give you a head 'spark' on the challenge, you're sleeping in one of the rooms in that house." Smarty said.

I looked William T. Gallagher's house and I was kind of hesitant.

"What's the matter, broad? You scared?" Smarty teased.

"No." I said and trying to pull myself together. "I'm not scared."

"Then, go ahead and find any room…except the main room on the first floor."

" 'Kay."

I took a deep breath and walked to the house and Lexi stays behind with Smarty. As soon as I walked to the house, I thought I saw Smarty shooting me with an evil grin. I tried not to think that he was up to something. I even tried not to think about how Smarty would go crazy and scare Lexi because he doesn't understand sign language (I think that Smarty is one of those guys who can get frustrated real easily and even lose control the next second.).

_This is probably not the smartest thing to do. _I thought. _I should've just called the police…but then again, the police, my parents, and Aunt Maddie would think that I'm nuts. I'll just go ahead and do the challenge…and hopefully bring Lexi back home._

With a combination of courage and fear, I entered the house. Probably due to the Toon Patrol staying for a certain period of time, the inside was not so clean because of some papers on the floor and cobwebs in the corners of the walls. The sources of light came from thick candles in lamps and made the room pretty dim. The carpet was littered with dusty footprints and broken flowerpots with dead flowers in them. An old oil painting of William T. Gallagher hung over the door frame that led to a room, a long hallway, and a stair case.

I was observing many of the details and making mental notes as I looked. I realized that I was making too many observations when I saw Greasy standing in the middle of the door frame, smiling, probably with a hint of lust. I hope that he still remembers the idea of staying friends instead becoming my enemy or crush.

"I got distracted." I said. "I was just making observations when I was really supposed to go to the second floor."

"_Eso no es problema en absoluto._" Greasy replied.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I said, 'That's no problem at all'. I'll take you to your room if you like."

With a blank but stern face, I said, "That'll be wonderful, thank you."

Although I was a little suspicious with Greasy, I walked up the stairs with him. He didn't hook arms with me or anything that was considered creepy to me. While we walked down a long hallway (with numerous paintings of flowers on the walls), Greasy said to me,

"You seem to be really close with your cousin. What is it that makes you really close to her?"

That was the same question that Mom would ask me.

With mild nervousness, I replied,

"Since I found out that Lexi can only communicate with her hands and head, I always made sure that she doesn't wander around any place that she's not familiar with and get herself in trouble."

"Is she a trouble-maker?"

"Oh, no. Lexi is just really curious because, naturally, she's a little kid. I just want to make sure that she doesn't get herself in a dangerous situation or in an accident that would take her life away. She even thinks of me as her big sister because she doesn't have any brothers or sisters."

"That sounds nice. Do you ever think of your cousin like she was your sister?"

"Yeah. I thought of Lexi like she was a little sister of mine. I've thought of her that way after I studied sign language."

Right after I said that, Greasy and I paused our conversation. As I made observations of the hallway, I wondered about things. I wondered how the Toon Patrol managed to come to the world of reality when they're from a place that exists in a movie and I wondered if Lexi is doing all right. I even wondered why Gallagher made the decision of making his house look small on the outside but look big inside.

I stopped my wondering when Greasy led me to a room at the very end of the hall.

"Sorry that we had to walk at the very end of the hall, _muchacha_." Greasy said.

"It's all right, Greasy. I don't mind long walks at all." I replied with caution.

(That was partially true. Sometimes I like to go on long walks because they help me think about things and sometimes I don't like long walks because I sometimes think that they don't lead me to anything good.)

Greasy takes out a small ring of old gold keys and picks the one in the middle. He unlocks the door and as I carefully walked into the dark room, Greasy says to me,

"_Dormir bien, hermosa chica. Tienes un largo día mañana._"

"What did you say?" I asked.

"I said, 'Sleep well. You have a long day tomorrow'."

"Oh, all right."

After that, Greasy closes the door and locks it. Probably Smarty's orders, I guess. It's also good that he didn't try to kiss me or anything that was disgusting or inappropriate.

Anyway, I looked around the room with my flashlight (I do have a single window but the moonlight is almost completely blocked by the trees.). It wasn't as messy as the main room on the first floor and the walls are bare and cracked. An old rusty bed had stuff under it and the mattress was a little torn. Although I'm not really a stranger to old beds, I was really tempted to open the window, slip out of my room, and sleep on a tree branch.

_But what would Smarty try to do if he finds me sleeping on a thick branch? _I thought.

I immediately dropped that thought when my curiosity was drawn to the stuff under the bed. I found two old boxes and I looked through them. They were just full of old papers, a dull Bowie knife, a roll of tweed string, some old love letters written with a combination of old English words and phrases and modern American words. The only useful thing that I found in the boxes was a hand-drawn, blueprint-style map of the house. Taking the map as a possible tool and an advantage to use in the challenge, I folded up the map, cut up a long length of string with the Bowie knife, and tied the map on to my left arm.

After rolling up my hoodie sleeve, I put the papers, the string, and knife back into their boxes and pushed them back under the bed. I noticed that there was something else under the bed and I reached in and grabbed…a book. I looked at the details of it with the help of my flashlight.

The color of the cover was a dirty white and it felt like a cotton coat. There were three red stains on the front of the cover and I wanted to know if those stains had a smell that I could make a note on. As if the book were a toxic liquid in a graduated cylinder, I held it six inches away from my face and began to waft the hidden smell to my nose. What I smelled for gave me excellent and interesting results.

"Hmm…" I said to myself. "…by judging the shape of these stains, I'm guessing that these are wine stains. That funky grape smell is definitely no stranger to me."

I never even tried drinking a glass of wine but thanks to a family trip to Colorado, the smell of wine is very familiar to me.

But anyway, I found a smudgy, bleeding, black-inked title that said "Las Damas" on the top of the front cover and "The Ladies" and Greasy's name on the bottom.

_I think that the room that I'm in right now is probably Greasy's room._ I thought. _But why would he give me his room and leave behind this? I think he's probably writing a mystery book or maybe a horror novel whenever he has the time. I could give Greasy a couple of reviews and maybe some tips to make his book a good-selling product._

I was prepared to open the book and then, I thought again.

_It could be a book with personal information written in it...but I guess I could have a little sneak peek of one page and then, it goes back under the bed._

I looked back at the bedroom door and listened for any approaching footsteps. I didn't hear anything and I looked back at the book. I took a deep breath and opened the book.


	11. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

**Beatrice:**

A black and white picture of a beautiful human lady was revealed on the first right page.

"Elsie Palmer", The left page was written.

Then like Acme's Disappearing/Re-appearing Ink, a red 'X' shows up on the face of Elsie Palmer.

I frowned in a suspicious matter at the 'X'. It was no surprise to me that Greasy would date one girl and then, he dates another girl after dumping the first girl he dated before. I frowned suspiciously because this kind of reminded me of one of my dad's mystery puzzles.

"In a mystery," Dad said to nine-year-old me (after solving a puzzle), "there's always evidence. Most of the time, it takes many pieces of evidence to figure out the conclusion of the mystery. But in this puzzle, only one piece of evidence is found and it has all of the answers to get to the conclusion. That rarely ever happens in mystery cases."

I promised myself that I would look at one page in the book but my curiosity was getting the better of me.

So I turned the page.

There was another picture of another human woman and she also had an 'X' on her face. The left page had three words appearing on it before my eyes: "_Muerte por arsenico"_. Although I don't speak Spanish or translate it as well as Tommy, I knew the first and third words, thanks to a friend of mine who went to Chile and a label in one of Dad's detective scrapbooks. I know that '_muerte' _means 'death' and '_arsenico' _means 'arsenic'. I turned back to the first left page and it also said "_Muerte por arsenic_".

_What kind of a book is this? _I thought. _This could be like one of Dad's mystery puzzles. It can tell me why Greasy hangs out with one woman and date another._

Still with a suspicious frown on my face, I began to flip through the book. Every right page had a picture of a woman, both Toon and human, with a disappearing/re-appearing red 'X' drawn on their faces and every left page said the same thing: "_Muerte por arsenico". _As I continued to flip through the book, my face goes from a suspicious frown to a look of terror and my eyes grow wider and wider after seeing each picture and reading each "_Muerte por arsenico_".

I stopped flipping through the sixty pages (It's an approximate guess) and dropped the book after seeing the last page. It had a picture of me with a neutral look on my face, messy Katniss braid, and my hands were behind my back. The left page said, "_Must be handled like a porcelain doll. Hands, hair, and skin are incredibly soft and is a _soldado_."_

I had many reasons why I get uncomfortable around Greasy and this became my number one reason on my list of reasons. I was friends with a serial killer, who would hang out with one woman and then, he would poison her and move on to the next. This is really awful. Greasy should be jail instead getting away with his murders.

_I can't believe this! _I thought. _I made a deal with a serial killer and right now, I am scared and extremely uncomfortable. I don't know what Greasy will say or do to me the next time we interact. _

Person Number One (a little voice in my head) would say: "Look on the bright side…at least you discovered this and you just have to be more careful when you're around Greasy.

Person Number Two (same as Person Number One) would say: "Go to the dark side of this situation, you idiot! You're always too curious! You're always getting yourself into more trouble because of your curiosity! That weasel is going to kill you."

Some people would try to see the good in a bad situation and some will focus on the negative side. But in this situation, I'm stuck in the middle, not the bright side, not the dark side…only the dim side. I'm not sure on which side is the best side to focus on.

_If I focus on the bad side, then Greasy would hide his anger and then, he'll probably kill me in my sleep. _I thought. _But if I'm more careful when I'm around Greasy, he'll think that there's nothing wrong for a few minutes and then, he'll find out that I've looked through his book of murdered women and I'll try to reason with him. Well, he can try to do horrible things to me because I deserve that for being too curious and nosy._

Then, I heard footsteps in the hall.

"I don't trust the broad being alone in that room." I heard Smarty say to either Greasy, Wheezy, Psycho, or Stupid, once again using that insulting name that he uses to refer me.

Quickly and quietly, I closed the book and slid it back under the bed. I tousled my hair and pulled out a few strands too make it look like I have rubbed my head too hard on the bed…

"Duh, but what about the girl's cousin?" Stupid asked. "What should we do with her?"

…Then, I grabbed the pillow and placed it against the bed…

"How about this, boss?" Wheezy asked with his raspy voice. "One of us will look after the girl's cousin and one of us will look after the girl herself?"

…I pulled the sheets a little bit, took off my shoes, and placed them on bottom of the edge of the bed. I was breathing really hard but not loud enough for the Toon Patrol to hear.

"That doesn't sound too bad." Smarty said. "Wheezy, you take the first 'watts' on the broad's cousin but lose those cigarettes! We'll switch every one 'tower'."

"All right." Wheezy said and I heard his footsteps becoming less clear as he walked away.

Quietly, I lied down on my left side on the cold, hard, wooden floor. Then, I realized that I don't have my tennis racquet with me. Now, all I have to do is just hope that I don't get killed in my sleep because I don't have anything to defend myself. Despite of the shocking realization…or disappointment…I closed my eyes and tried to breathe calmly and evenly to make it look like I'm a heavy sleeper (I usually am but in a time like this, I would sleep for some time and then, I would be wide awake the next in a pattern.).

"Psycho, you watch the broad first." Smarty said.

"Can I use this?" Psycho asked.

"No, you're not using that 'blazer'. Give that to me. You'll use it for some other 'crime'."

_What?!_

"All right, Psycho. I'm about to unlock the door. Don't hurt the _muchacha_, got it?" Greasy asked.

"HEE HEE…HEE HEE! I got it!" Psycho replied.

"Aye yi yi, be quiet!"

Then, I heard the door getting unlocked and then, I heard it open. I closed my eyes as soon as Psycho walked in with not-so-heavy footsteps and giggled softly. Greasy walked in with his shoes quietly tapping on the floor. I guess Smarty left after Psycho and Greasy walked in the room.

"Pretty girly. Pretty girly! Hee hee hee!" Psycho said.

"Oh my goodness! _Muchacha_ has rolled off the bed." Greasy exclaimed softly.

_Yes! It worked! _I thought. _The act has paid off!_

"Psycho, fix the bed and I'll move the _muchacha_ out of the way." Greasy said.

_PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! _I thought.

Despite of that thought, I remained calm.

I felt Greasy nudged me a little bit and I rolled on to my back. Then, I felt his right hand touch my back and I was propped up a little bit and I felt his left hand slide under my knees. All of the sudden, Greasy just picked me up and I feel like I'm levitating. I even felt the motions of Greasy sitting down on something, possibly a small couch that I didn't happen to notice.

_Be careful, Beatrice. _I said to myself, mentally. _Don't do or say anything to this snake or you'll end up dead after drinking a glass of lemonade with arsenic! And seriously, Greasy! Remember our promise that we made in the Los Angeles hospital._

While I heard Psycho giggling and stumbling around the bed, I felt Greasy rake his fingers through my hair. I really wanted him to stop doing that.

"All done, Greasy." Psycho said.

"All right, _muchacha_," Greasy said to me, although he doesn't know that I'm pretending to be asleep, "time to go back on the bed. You still have a long day tomorrow."

I felt Greasy getting off the couch and gently putting me down on the bed, placing the pillow under my head, and covering three quarters of my body with the thin bed sheet. I really didn't want him to do that. I would've just slept on the floor.

"See you in a little bit, _bastante pequeño ángel_." Greasy whispered in my ear.

Then, I heard Greasy walk out of the room and he closed the door.

Now I wondered if I was going to survive with a crazy weasel who goes by the name 'Psycho'. I probably will but after a slow-passing ten minutes, Psycho's round of giggling fits, repetition of 'Watch the pretty lady', exclaiming random words like 'knife' or 'baseball bat', and rolling around on the floor while hugging himself (I watched him while barely opening my eyes) made it harder and harder for me to sleep. I was at the point of losing it when Psycho began to sing _Ring Around The Rosie _and getting the lyrics wrong almost every time_. _

_Please no more singing! SHUT UP! _I thought._ I don't know how the other Toon Patrol members sleep at night but I really want you to put a cork it!_

Finally, after the twelfth time of singing _Ring Around The Rosie_, I sat up and said "Will you shut up?!"

Psycho immediately stopped singing and he freezes where he stands. He looks at me in shock and surprise.

"Sorry." Psycho said. "Sorry, pretty girly."

Then, something tells me that I shouldn't speak harshly to Psycho.

I sighed.

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry." I said. "I shouldn't have yelled at you and I am just really scared and tired."

Psycho's face goes from shock and surprise to concern and sympathy. He walked towards me and rests his chin on my bed like a dog.

"You're tired, too?" I asked.

Psycho nodded.

Without thinking, I rubbed my hand on his spiky-haired head and Psycho's eyes rolled back in pleasure.

"You like that?" I asked.

"You're nice…really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really nice." Psycho replied.

Very flattered, I replied, "I think you're nice, too."

"Boss is working on your game…I tried it out…Boss wasn't happy after that."

"What did he do to you?"

Psycho gets on his feet and he smacked himself on the head.

"Smarty smacked you on the head? That's not nice." I said. "But what's this game like, Psycho?"

"Why do you want to know, pretty girly?" Psycho asked.

"I would like to know because…I get nervous if I don't know what it's like."

"Boss would be mad at me if I told you."

"How about this? If you tell me what the game is like, then I won't tell Smarty. Trust me, I'm a good secret keeper."

Psycho told me everything that I needed to know about the challenge. Basically, I have to go through a series of obstacle courses and try to not get scared or back out on the last minute.

"Is there anything else I can do?" Psycho asked me after explaining the challenge.

_Huh! I'm liking him already! _I thought. _It seems that I have an ally._

"Don't freak out but are you familiar with this?" I asked and pulled Greasy's book out from underneath the bed.

Psycho looked at the book cover and nodded.

"I'm familiar with it but never opened it. Why is that book important right now?" Psycho asked.

"In this book, it says that Greasy puts horrible things inside a lady's food and drink, like rat poison and arsenic. I want you to make sure that Greasy or any other member of the Toon Patrol doesn't put anything wrong in any dishes and drinks. Don't tell them what we're up to or the both of us will be in really big trouble. You got it?"

Psycho looks at me mischievously, stands up straight, and does a soldier's salute. "Got it." He replied.

"All right, then." I said and held out my fist for a fist bump. Psycho covers his face with his sleeve-covered hands and trembles in fear.

"I'm not going to punch you." I said. "Where I came from, fist bumps are just another way of making an agreement."

Psycho uncovers his face and he looks at my clenched right fist.

"Get your right fist and gently tap my fist back." I said.

Psycho gently taps his sleeve-covered fist on to mine and smiled.

"Remember…don't tell Smarty, Stupid, Wheezy, or Greasy." I reminded Psycho.

He replies back with a 'cross my heart and hope to cry' gesture and tells me (verbally) to go back to sleep.

After that, I began to start a nice and quiet sleep.


	12. Chapter 9 part one

**Chapter Nine part one**

**Beatrice:**

I woke up to the sound of faint but rapid gunshots. My guess was the shots came from outside instead of another floor up or down. I even started to smell a strong and nasty-smelling coffee.

I walked to the window and looked to see what was going on outside. Wheezy, with his back on me, was holding a huge gangster-styled tommy gun and aiming it at a bag of straw with a bull's-eye target painted on it.

Then, I looked to my right a little bit. I found a huge circus bear cage with a very bad paint job and something small and skinny walks around in the cage. I squinted and I sort of got a better look at the creature. That was no creature that walked in the cage…it was Lexi wrapped in a thin blanket made out of burlap sacks. I guess that Smarty had put her in the cage and left her in there all night.

"Oh, Lexi." I said in a whisper. "You shouldn't be treated like that."

"You're worried about your cousin, are ya?" A familiar bossy voice asked, making me jump in surprise.

It was Smarty.

He was sitting on the couch that I didn't notice before with his legs crossed…drinking a cup of coffee and making himself look like he's king of the world. I'm not even going to ask where he got it or how he managed to make coffee in an old house.

"Yeah, I'm worried about my cousin." I said with a small frown on my face. "It's really obvious."

Smarty chuckled with a small evil grin on his face.

"You have a 'sarong' bond with her and a 'sarong' heart." He said.

"The correct word is 'strong'. A sarong is a type of garment that's wrapped around the body and looks like a dress." I said.

"You broad. You're a walking dictionary."

"And don't call me a broad. I probably told you before that it's a very insulting name to women, especially to a teen girl, like me. If you want to catch my attention, you can either call me by my name."

"And what's your name again?"

"Beatrice Birchwood. You don't need to tell me your name because I remember it very well."

Smarty takes a long sip of his coffee and sighed in an irritated matter.

"All right…Birchwood, I get the 'mist'." He said.

"It's supposed to be 'gist'." I said and then, I crossed my arms and tapped four of my right fingers on my left arm.

"I'm not here to be corrected. I'm here because I wanted to tell you to meet me and the others on the first floor in a few 'millets' to talk about the challenge."

"All right." Was all I said.

"That was all I wanted to say." Smarty said and then, he got off of the couch and left the room. Then, he walked back and said to me, "If you want to say any last words to your cousin, the only time to 'stalk' to her is after the meeting." Then, for real, Smarty left.

I adjusted a small mirror on the wall, pulled my ponytail band out of my braid, and unbraided it. After a few seconds, the tip of my hair reaches to the lower half of my spine.

Since it was difficult to braid with the hood of my hoodie in the way, I took off my hoodie (exposing my oversized gray T-shirt) and tied the sleeves around my waist.

I loosened my arms and began to comb my fingers through my hair. A couple of tangles were present in my thick head of hair and I had to comb through my hair carefully. Then, I split my hair in to three thick strands to make a regular braid instead of my usual Katniss braid.

I heard a whistle when I had a quarter of my hair braided.

"That's some beautiful hair there, _muchacha._"

_Oh no! _I thought. _It's Greasy! Should I not reply or try to humor him a little bit to make him not suspicious of me._

I glanced at Greasy, who was leaning against the door with his hands in his pockets and smiling.

"You should have your hair down more often. It looks nice." Greasy said.

"My hair gets tangled real easily because it's super thick." I replied with caution. "Probably so thick that many things can get stuck in it. Birds, sticks…bats…paper airplanes…" I mumbled at the last part.

Greasy laughed at what I said and I began to regret to choose the idea on humoring him. I can't too comfortable with that choice.

"Well, uh, I just came by to see how you were doing and to tell you that you're supposed to meet us on the first floor in a few minutes. _Aquí está una manzana para el desayuno._"

"Greasy, I can't understand the last sentence. What did you say?" I asked and tied the end of my braid together with my ponytail band.

I turned around and I found Greasy gone. He left behind a fresh green apple. I am going to randomly guess that Greasy wanted me to have this apple for breakfast. I really had to admit that the apple looked really delicious and I picked it up.

Just as I was about to take a bite, I stopped and realized that Greasy could've put something in or on the apple and it could probably kill me after biting in to the apple.

I untied the sleeves of my hoodie and it put the hoodie back on the way it was before I tied it around my waist. I stuffed the apple in my hoodie pocket and I hoped that it won't roll out of it if I ran or jumped around during the challenge.

I took my shoes out from underneath the bed and put them back on my feet. I double-knotted them and I left the room, closing the door behind me.

_Psycho told me about the challenge before I went to sleep last night. _I thought. _And now, Smarty wants to talk to me and the other members of the Toon Patrol about the challenge. I don't know if I should trust Psycho anymore or if I shouldn't trust him at all. But I can't worry about him too much. I have to worry about the meeting and Lexi. When I meet up with the weasels, I'll try to stay calm and don't get Smarty ticked off. Just remember these things: Worry, stay calm, and don't get the leader ticked off. I'll try to remember them and I think that I'll be all right._

**(To be continued…)**


	13. Chapter 9 part two

**Chapter Nine part two**

**Beatrice:**

On the way downstairs, I missed a step and fell down. I bumped my head and my back on the wall after reached the bottom. Thankfully, none of the Toon Patrol members saw me and the apple in my pocket didn't roll out of my pocket.

_Get a grip, Beatrice. _I thought. _Just stand up straight, have a blank but serious look on your face, show no fear, and don't get Smarty ticked. Stop being nervous and you'll be all right. _

When I finally arrived at the hall on the first floor, I heard a sound of something squeaking for a brief second. I looked down and I saw a brown mouse scurrying down the hall like it was being chased by a cat that's not there.

_If Smarty is trying to scare me, then he can do better than that. _I thought. _It takes more than a mouse and a snake to scare me._

I walked into the room where I entered last night and I turned to my right. I saw a room with an opened door and it looked like an office for the CEO. Smarty was sitting at one end of a table with his back on the turned to the wall behind him. He's tapping his fingers on the table and in front of him is three black glasses in a straight line. Smarty looks at something to his left while still tapping his fingers on the table and frowning in an irritated matter.

I took a deep breath and cracked my neck. After loosening up and putting a blank but serious look on my face, I walked to the room. Smarty doesn't notice me standing by the door frame and I had to clear my throat to get his attention.

"Is this where the meeting is taking place?" I asked.

"Yes, Birchwood. Sit right there." Smarty replied and pointed to a nearby chair on his right.

Cautiously, I walked to the chair and Smarty watches me sitting down on the chair. I noticed him and frowned a little bit.

"What are you staring at?" I asked.

"There's a spider on your shoulder." Smarty said.

I was really tempted to look but I knew better than to do that. Smarty is once again trying to scare me.

"I'm not falling for that, Smarty." I said. "You're trying to scare me and I don't want to be looking like a fool before the meeting."

"No, really, there is a spider on your shoulder." Smarty said.

I narrowed my eyes and shook my head.

"Still not falling for it." I said.

My attention was caught by a newspaper slapping my shoulder a couple of times. I turned my head and I saw Wheezy walking away to the chair in front of me with a rolled-up newspaper in his left hand. A brown spot was visible on it and I realized that Smarty wasn't kidding at all.

"I 'mourned' you." Smarty chuckled.

"It's 'warned'." I corrected. "And you better knock it off with the idea of trying to scaring me. It takes more than a mouse to scare me."

"YOU'RE NOT SCARED OF MICE?!" Wheezy and Smarty exclaimed in unison.

"Wheezy, you owe boss a soda." Greasy said as he walked in and sat next to me. "So what did I miss, _muchacha_?"

In my head, I gulped in fear. I was sitting next to the serial killer. But I calmly replied to Greasy, "Oh, Smarty and Wheezy just realized that I'm not afraid of mice and they are completely shocked by what I said to them…about not being afraid of mice, I mean."

"Really? You're not afraid of mice?" Greasy asked in surprise and awe.

"Nope and I'm not even afraid of snakes."

"Wow, you're good."

Then, Psycho and Stupid walked in and closed the door behind them. Psycho sat next to Wheezy while Stupid sat next to Greasy. We all looked at Smarty and he makes the meeting official.

"All right, boys...and Birchwood, the meeting is now in 'section'. Boys, you already know that Birchwood is taking her little cousin's place in the challenge." Smarty said.

Every weasel looks at me and I gave them my blank but serious look on my face. I didn't even blink.

"Birchwood, are you willing to accept the challenge that's written on a piece on a piece of paper and is 'chillin' in one of these glasses?" Smarty asked, not using the word 'hidden'.

_You don't have to do this! _Person Number One shouted in my head. _Try to reason with the weasels! They'll probably let Lexi go!_

_No, accept the stinkin' challenge! _Person Number Two also shouted in my head. _Lexi's life depends on you!_

"I am willing to accept the challenge, Smarty." I said.

Katniss Everdeen shouts an alternate response in my head, _I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE!_

"All right." Smarty said. Then, he begins to shuffle the glasses around.

I watched the glasses carefully and I began to think about which glass that the slip of paper was hidden in. After three more rounds of shuffling, Smarty stops and takes his hands off the glasses.

"Pick a glass." Smarty said.

I carefully looked at the three glasses as the weasels watch me.

"The glass in the middle." I said.

"Say that again." Smarty said back to me.

"I pick the glass in the middle."

Smarty lifts the glass off the table and a crumbled up ball of paper was exposed. After moving the glasses out of the way, Smarty flicks the paper at me and I catch it like a pencil rolling off a school desk. I opened up the paper and read it.

It said,

"**The challenge you're participating in is known as the Game of Death.**"

"Are you scared?" Stupid asked.

I took my eyes off the paper and shook my head without even blinking.

"No, I'm not scared." I replied.

The truth is that I'm scared…I'm scared that I'm going to fail and not see Lexi again. When it comes to something like this, getting challenged by the people that I don't like very much, my main rule is to not show fear and I manage to make it out of a situation.

"Are you sure?" Wheezy asked and coughed after smoking five cigarettes.

"I'm sure." I replied with solemn.

"Are you not afraid of this?" Smarty asked.

He pulls out a Southern Leopard Frog and it hopped towards me. Greasy scoots away, Psycho watches the frog in shock, Wheezy doesn't even show a sign of interest, Stupid stares at the frog, and Smarty waits for me to jump out of my chair and scream like a wimp. Once again, I show Smarty that I'm not scared of frogs by gently picking up the frog and covered my left hand with my right.

"I don't understand this!" Smarty exclaimed. "How can you not be afraid of 'flogs'?!"

"I'm a country girl and I have frogs at my house all the time." I replied and uncovered my left hand. The frog was sitting still and I took the opportunity to scare Smarty a little bit. "And besides, frogs are just really adorable." I gently rubbed the tip of my forefinger down the frog's back and it leaped off my hand and it kind of glided through the air and lands inside Smarty's pink zoot suit.

Smarty exclaimed in surprise and he falls back with his chair. He begins to stammer in shock and even making random noises while he struggles to get the little frog. Greasy, Psycho, Wheezy, and Stupid laughed really hard and I just smiled and shook my head.

This kind of went on for a while and Smarty finally gets rid of the frog (he didn't kill it) and fixes his suit. The other weasels try not to laugh or smile while I just went back to looking serious.

"That was a very 'notting' thing to do, Birchwood." Smarty said. "But I'm going to let that slide for now."

"And I believe that we got off of the subject for a while. Are there any other details that I need to know about the Game of Death?" I asked in a mildly serious voice.

"Despite of the name *cough! cough!*," Wheezy said, "this isn't a life and death challenge but a test of knowledge and survival with toon physics involved."

"Read the instructions before starting the game." Greasy said.

"You have to participate in five games in the challenge and after doing two or three games, then you can have a break. During the challenge, you're given three chances in each game and if you lose all three chances, then your cousin can go home and you come to Toon Town with us."

"That's really all that you need to know, Birchwood." Smarty said. "If you still would like to say any last words to your cousin, I'll give you a few 'millets'. Then, the challenge begins."

"I would like to talk to my cousin, Smarty." I said.

"Then, Greasy will 'export' you to your cousin."

_Don't leave me alone with a serial killer! _I thought.

"All right, muchacha, let's go to your cousin." Greasy said.

With caution, I followed Greasy and we both left the room. As we walked out of Gallagher's house, Greasy began to laugh.

"I wish that I saw Boss's face when he got scared of that frog again!" He exclaimed. "It was just too funny!"

"I never thought that Smarty was really scared of frogs." I said. "I know many boys that aren't afraid of frogs."

"You're not afraid of frogs, either. That's what I like about you. You don't get scared by anything that usually scares girls."

We barely walked halfway through the lawn when Greasy told me to walk to the circus bear cage, which was straight ahead, and that he can't take one more step off the lawn with regret in his voice. He says that it was an order from Smarty for some reason that he doesn't fully know.

As I walked to the bear cage, I saw Lexi curled up in a ball with the burlap sack blanket wrapped around her. She sees me and runs up to me.

**Are you doing all right? **I asked.

**Not really. I'm scared that you're not going to win. **Lexi replied.

**I promise you, Lexi. I am going to win the game and I'll bring us back home. I won't let the Toon Patrol hurt us or even bother us.**

** I'm counting on you, Beatrice. You have to win.**

Lexi wraps her arms around me and we hugged. I even heard Lexi cry, not a loud cry…but a cry that sounds like a combination of moaning and whimpering. When I let Lexi go, I saw that tiny but fat teardrops running down her face.

With sympathy, I said to Lexi,

**Don't cry, Lexi. I promise that everything is going to be all right. **

** Are you sure? **Lexi asked.

**Yes, Lexi. I'm sure.**

Then, Lexi looks at something and the look on her face goes from sad to shock.

"What, Lexi?" I asked.

I turned around and I saw all of the members of the Toon Patrol bunched together. Smarty, with an evil sadistic smile on his face, grabs me by the collar of my hoodie with his right hand, and pins me to the bars of the cage. With his left hand, Smarty pulls out a white cloth and presses it on my nose.

"B-Beatrice!" I heard Lexi exclaim.

_LEXI? DID YOU JUST-? _I thought.

Everything goes black after Smarty dropped me in a pile of leaves like a rag doll.


	14. Attention Notice 2

**Attention Notice:**

**Hey, FanFiction users, guests, and reviewers,**

**This is imaginarytoon1, author of **_**The Birchwood Twin(s) **_**series, giving you another attention notice.**

**Yes, I know that it's a disappointment because you all want to know what happens next in **_**The Halloween Special **_**and I said that I'll upload chapters every night. But due to doing family activities and homework, I'll probably upload the next chapter tomorrow night or the night after that. **

**I know that you, the readers, want to know what's going to happen next in **_**The Birchwood Twin(s): Halloween Special **_**but there are things in life that are just unpredictable.**

**Again, I'm really sorry to keep you waiting.**

**-imaginarytoon1**


	15. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

**(OMGosh, I am so sorry that I didn't upload this chapter last night! I was planning on uploading this chapter last night but I was just so busy and so tired that my eyes just closed on their own and woke up around eleven thirty at night with my bedroom lights still on. This sort of thing rarely happens and I usually stay up and write chapters 'til midnight or much later than that.**

**Yeah, life stinks for me sometimes. **

**All right, all right, all right, I'll cut to the chase.**

**Here it is, the chapter that y'all have been waiting for.**

** -imaginarytoon1)**

**Beatrice:**

My vision was slowly coming back to me and I thought I heard the Toon Patrol laughing. As soon as my vision was back to normal, I looked around the big room that I'm sitting in right now. Almost everything was white, the walls, the floor, and even one thick pipe that was dangling from the ceiling. The only thing that wasn't white was a black sheet of paper (it was approximately twenty feet away from where I was sitting) that was nailed to the wall on my left. I guess it's a note.

Like the walls, the ink was white. But the funny thing was that the writing looked blurry on the black paper.

As I was getting up, I heard a rattling sound for a brief second. I ignored it and I walked to the note. I was about seven and a half feet away when I felt something pull me back and I heard the rattling sound again. I looked back and I saw that I was chained to a thick metal pipe. Then, I looked back to the note and the writing still looked a little blurry.

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, you're finally awake." I heard Smarty's voice say to me.

I looked to my right and behind me, I saw the Toon Patrol crowding a small entrance that was pretty close to the pipe that I was chained to.

"This is the first part of the challenge, Birchwood." Wheezy said in his deep voice. "As you can see, you're chained to this pipeline. All you have to do is try to make it to the other side of the room and try to cut the chain apart before your eight minute timer stops _and _before the room is completely flooded with water."

"I thought that you said that the challenge wasn't really a life and death thing." I interrupted.

"Well, Boss and I talked about that part and we decided to kind of make the challenge a small life and death game. Oh, the three chances in each game part has changed, too. Instead of three chances during each game, you'll have three chances throughout the WHOLE game."

_Oh, gosh! _I shouted nervously in my head.

"The instructions are nailed to the wall and you're supposed to read them before you start the game." Greasy said.

"Now that you've mentioned the instructions, I find it very hard to read them. I see the white scribbling but from where I'm standing, the scribbling looks blurry." I said.

"Hold on just a second."

I saw Greasy walk to the note and he tore it off the wall. He hands me the note and then, he walks back to the other Toon Patrol members and watches as I was about to begin reading the note.

"Just say 'okay' when you're done and the challenge will begin." Wheezy said.

I nodded my head and I heard the Toon Patrol leaving the room. The instructions said,

_**If you want to make it to the other side of the room, then you better think fast.**_

_** Although it isn't seen now, there is a bone saw on the other side of the room.**_

_** But the problem is: You're chained to a thick pipe line.**_

_** If you can figure out how to make it to the other side, then that's good.**_

_** You must figure out how to go to the other side while the room is slowly getting filled up with water and with eight minutes counting down as you go. **_

_** If you make it to the other side, cut your chains with the bone saw before eight minutes is up, and you're finished, then stomp on the square tile with a red circle in the middle of that high platform in front of you. The water will drain out and we'll let you move on to the next challenge.**_

_** -The Toon Patrol**_

After reading the instructions the first time, I re-read them a couple of times and then, I put the note down on the floor. I noticed a big thin roll of black duct tape next to my right foot.

I looked at a little note that was attached to the tape. It had Greasy and Psycho's signatures on the paper part of the tape. I'm not sure if Smarty will be mad at Greasy and Psycho just because they left a small roll of duct tape for me to use.

I put the tape in my hoodie pocket and I looked around the room for a second and then, I created a plan that could work.

"Okay!" I called.

Then, my eight minutes began after Smarty says, probably speaking through some hidden speakers, "Eight 'millets' begins NOW." A loud school bell rings and I had to cover my ears for a second. When the ringing stopped, I saw that a small circular drain becoming visible on the middle of the room. That drain, too, was kind of blurry. Water started coming out from the drain and a puddle expands as more water comes.

I checked the part of the chain where it makes a curvy slope on the pipe. I shook the chain and the curvy slope moves up as I shook it. That was good. Step One in my plan is checked off in my head.

I can't explain my plan at this moment because I'm—

A giant bucket…probably as big as six wooden barrels smashed together…is lowered into the room and it slowly began to tip over.

I took the duct tape out of my pocket and tore off four long strips of tape. I wrapped two strips of tape (one strip each) around my lower calves and I wrapped the other two strips around my wrists (one strip each). I quickly ripped off another long strip and wrapped it around the apple to keep it from falling out.

As a cascade of water was about to get dumped out of the wooden bucket, I ran back to the spot where the note was nailed on to the wall. I stretched my legs and cracked my knuckles and neck. I was about to do probably the most difficult…maybe dangerous…and impossible feat that not really a lot of people can do. I was about to do a backflip, land on my hands, hand-walk to the pipe, and climb up the pipe while I'm…upside down.

I took a deep breath and as soon as the water was coming out of the bucket, I did a couple of backflips and landed on my palms. I quickly hand-walked to the pipe and pressed my stomach against it.

"Six 'millets' and thirty-two seconds left!" Smarty called.

I opened my legs and I wrapped them around the pipe. I pushed up with my hands and began to climb the pipe like it was my favorite tree. The water was up to the tops of my feet when I jumped on to the pole.

"_Oh, Dios mío! Mira que te vayas!"_ I heard Greasy shout in the speakers.

I have no idea on what he just said.

As the water continued to rise up, I climbed up higher and higher. The pipe that I was climbing on is the same pipe that is hanging from the ceiling of the room. At the other side of the room, the other end of the pipe goes upward, just on the left side of the giant wooden bucket.

I was about halfway up the pipe when Smarty shouted "Five 'millets' and twenty-two seconds left, Birchwood!" through the speakers. I know that I don't have much time to climb but I don't want to hurt my back while doing such an impossible thing.

"Take your time, _muchacha_! Don't rush!" Greasy said.

"HEE HEE HEE!" Psycho giggled through the speakers.

"Don't listen to Greasy, Birchwood!" Wheezy shouted. "You better get a move on or you'll never see your little cousin again!"

"Bilge rats!" I hissed under my breath.

Without trying to feel rushed, I motivated myself to climb for Lexi and for justice despite of the tape slowly losing its stick.

"For Lexi, for justice!" I whispered.

I climbed up and up and up until I finally made it to where the pipe was making a curve to the other side of the room.

"All right, Beatrice." I whispered. "You can climb up the pipe. Let's see if you can make it across the room without trying to fall in the water."

When I stopped at the curve of the pipe, I swung my chain up to where the pipe goes straight across the room. I pushed myself with the help of the wall and I zipped a quarter across the room. The water filling the room halfway up and I swung myself to the top of the pipe.

I was almost to the platform when I heard Smarty shout "Two 'millets' and thirty seconds, Birchwood!" through the hidden speakers again.

"It's…it's 'minutes', meat…meathead!" I shouted back while a little out of breath.

Then, another chain with a bone saw hooked on was lowered to the end of the pipe and I quickly crawled on the pipe like a cat running on a fence.

I grabbed the bone saw and with quick motions, I began to cut the chain. I tried not to saw the chain too hard because I didn't want to have any sparks of light to burn my legs.

"ONE MINUTE AND TEN SECONDS!" Wheezy shouted, surprising me.

In fact, Wheezy scared me so badly that I nearly dropped the bone saw. I grabbed it before it disappeared to the bottom of the room. The water was almost touching the pipe that I'm sitting on.

"FORTY SECONDS!" All members of the Toon Patrol shouted in the speakers.

Quickly, I began to saw the part of the chain where a huge dent was displayed. Then, I stopped when I noticed something on the cuffs of the chain. There were clamps on the cuffs! Why didn't I see them before?!

I threw the bone saw to the platform and I pulled the clamps, causing the cuffs to open and fall in to the water.

I carefully stood up on the pipe, turned to my left (where the platform was, along with the square tile with a red circle in the middle), and jumped. I landed on the platform and ran to the square tile while the Toon Patrol was counting down from ten.

"NINE…EIGHT…"

Five feet away…doing good…doing good…

"…SEVEN…SIX…"

Two feet away…almost there…

"…FIVE…FOUR…"

I stomped on the tile and immediately, the water stops flooding the room and disappears down the drain.

I sighed in relief.


	16. Chapter 11 part one

**Chapter Eleven part one**

**Beatrice:**

Greasy and Psycho were the first weasels to greet me as soon as they unlocked the door and I walked into a blue-black hallway.

"Amazing backflip and hand-walks! I've never seen anyone do THOSE in a LONG time!" Greasy exclaimed.

That exclamation caught me by surprise and I was puzzled after being surprised.

"Wait a minute, how did you know that did a backflip and some hand-walks?" I asked. "You weren't the room when I did those things."

"HEE HEE! WE WATCH YOU, PRETTY GIRLY! HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE! WE WATCH YOU FROM THAT LITTLE CAMERA!" Psycho exclaimed and giggled.

"Camera?"

"You didn't see the camera?" Wheezy asked with a raspy voice.

I shook my head no.

Psycho guided me inside of the room and pointed to a small, blurry, black box in the top right corner.

"Oh, man. I didn't see that." I said while squinting at the camera.

"We watched everything that you did and we never saw anything like that." Wheezy said and inhaled the toxins from the four burning cigarettes.

Smarty walked over to me while Stupid kind of dragged behind.

"All right, Birchwood. You 'vast' the first part of the challenge but I want to ask you something." Smarty said and crossed his arms.

"Go ahead and ask me and I'll reply." I said.

Smarty exchanges an evil smile with Stupid and Wheezy, and then, Psycho and Greasy. He looks at me and I give him a look that would say 'Really? Do you have to make things even worse by pausing and exchanging glances?'

"Are you scared of 'gloating' around in the water?" Smarty asked.

I frowned.

"No. I'm not afraid of getting wet or _floating _around in the water." I replied.

"Oh, really?" Smarty asked.

Greasy and Psycho move out of the way when Smarty grabs…a really large portion of a building made out of bricks with a wooden ladder leaning against it. A typical Toon trick, pulling things out of thin air (I don't think that the Toon Laws of Physics can be mixed with the laws of physics of the real world. I don't know. Can't the Toon Laws of Physics and the laws of physics of the real world can be integrated?).

"Walk under the ladder." Smarty said and then, he crossed his arms and tapped his right fingers on his left arm.

Without hesitation, I walked under the ladder.

"Walk under it again." Wheezy said after blowing a huge cloud of smoke.

I walked under the ladder again.

"_Muchacha, _why did you do that? Walking under a ladder is _mala suerte, _you know." Greasy said.

"Is what?" I asked.

"Bad luck."

"I'm not superstitious. Nothing can go wrong if a cat crosses your path or if you walk under a ladder."

"So, are you saying-?" Smarty began.

"I'm not scared or superstitious, Smarty. I never have and I never will."

"Well, what are you scared of?"

"I'm not going to tell you."

"Tell us!" Stupid and Wheezy exclaimed in unison.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head no.

"You can tell us, _muchacha._" Greasy said. "You can tell _me_ what you're afraid of."

_OH, HECK NO! _I shouted in my head.

"If I tell you five what I'm afraid of, then you're going to use it in one of the challenges and try to scare me. My lips are sealed." I said.

"Does this scare you?" Smarty asked and took out a wooden fishing pole out of thin air with a wiggling pink worm dangling on a string. He gets the worm close to my face and I just gave him a look that would've told Smarty, "Really? Are you trying to scare me again?"

"Smarty," I began while untangling the worm from the string, "if you're trying to scare me, then you have to do better and not dangle worms in front of my face."

Smarty threw the fishing back and put his hands up in the air, as if he were surrendering. After putting his hands up, Smarty grabbed his hat, took it off of his head, and threw it down on the floor.

"You can't be afraid of nothing! You must be afraid of 'sumptin'!'" Smarty exclaimed.

_I am afraid of something. _I thought. _But I choose to not talk about it._

"Everyone's afraid of something, Smarty, even the toughest people have something to be afraid of." I said. "But I believe that we're getting off track right now. I'm ready to move on to the next challenge and don't ask me if I'm scared."

That snapped Smarty back to reality.

"You sure that you're ready?" Smarty asked after picking up his hat and putting it back on his head.

I nodded.

"Follow us." Wheezy said.

"FOLLOW THE LEADER! HEE HEE!" Psycho exclaimed.

"Shut up, Psycho." Smarty and Wheezy said in unison.

As I followed the Toon Patrol, I began to think about Lexi before I was knocked out. I never actually heard Lexi speak verbally in my life. When she talks to me, she uses sign language. But when Lexi is scared, shocked, or anything related to those two, she uses her facial expressions. Sure, Lexi does make sounds but that's usually gasping or laughing and she rarely makes any other noises.

Then, I began to think about what happened in the first challenge. I never actually attempted to climb up while being upside down and despite of trying out many sports and hanging upside down from the branch of my favorite tree, I'm really not that flexible enough to climb upside down and climb. I can only do one backflip and that's it. I can't really tell if this sort of thing happens because of it's one of those days when you can do something that you don't always do real perfectly or maybe I don't think about anything and I just go ahead and start doing unexplainable things.

_I feel like I'm a part of a strange dream. _I thought. _Many things happen and I have to experience most of them. I experience them but I can't explain on how or WHEN those things happen. Really, really, really bizarre._

After walking up a flight of stairs, Smarty told me that we were going outside to do the next challenge. I really didn't mind that. I needed to get some fresh air anyway because it was a little humid in the room where the first challenge started. I didn't say that to him. I just said, "All right."

"Birchwood, why did you come here?" Smarty asked after a brief pause.

"I came here because of Lexi, my little cousin." I replied. "I think that you already asked me that."

"You came all this way for your cousin?" Wheezy asked.

"Yes, I did but what I don't understand is why you kidnapped Lexi instead of me."

Smarty turns his head at me and frowned. I knew that he was going to do that.

"Why do you want to know, Birchwood?" He asked.

"Because I want to point out that you could've kidnapped me first instead of my cousin. Things would be a whole lot easier." I replied.

"*cough, cough, cough, cough*! That's what I told him!" Wheezy coughed.

Stupid turned his head to Wheezy and asked, "Who, me?"

"This isn't about you, Stupid." I said and turned to Wheezy. "But before you kidnapped Lexi, were you still thinking about kidnapping me?"

The Toon Patrol and I entered the main room.

"Yes, *cough, cough*!" Wheezy replied.

"But when I found the pipsqueak," Smarty jumped in and interrupted Wheezy, "I 'tot' of another plan. We decided to use your cousin as bait and we would take her to Toon Town if she lost the challenge. But when we found out that your cousin can't speak with words, we decided to take her to Toon Town until you came along."

"Lexi didn't do anything to you." I said. "Why did you kidnap her if she didn't do anything to you?"

**To be continued…**


	17. Chapter 11 part two

**Chapter Eleven part two**

**(Hi, y'all. I'm sorry to say this but this is going to be a short chapter and I will write a long one the next time I get my hands on my laptop. I will try to publish the next chapter whenever I don't have anything interfering with my writing.**

**-imaginarytoon1)**

**Beatrice:**

Smarty stopped where we were walking and then, he ran into the meeting room and brought out a chair. He placed it behind me and after standing in front of me for a second, Smarty pushed me and I fell on to the chair, nearly tipping it over.

"Boss, _eso no es muy amable de su parte para impulsar la Muchacha_!" Greasy exclaimed.

_I have no idea what you just said, Greasy_. I thought. _But Smarty, you can't push a girl in Texas, especially if she's the daughter of a former police officer and detective._

"You could've told me to sit down and there was no need for you to push me." I said, trying to keep my voice in an easy and steady.

"Why do you want to know about why we kidnapped your cousin, Birchwood?" Smarty asked while he crossed his arms and tapped his right foot on the floor.

"I already told you why, Smarty."

"We need more than that, Birch-*cough, cough, cough!*-wood!" Wheezy exclaimed.

"I already told you that Lexi didn't do anything to you. I'm the one who should've been stuffed in a burlap sack and taken to Toon Town for hideous tortures and punishments!"

"Exactly!" Smarty exclaimed. "We wanted 'avenge'! That's why we wanted to kidnap you!"

That exclamation hits me on my head (not literally) like someone just dropped a safe on my head.

"Kidnap for _revenge_?" I asked. "It's not 'avenge'! Revenge is when you inflict the punishment as payback on something that someone did to you."  
"And what's 'avenge', _muchacha_?" Greasy asked.

"Don't answer that, Birchwood!" Smarty exclaimed.

"Avenge is when you harm or punish the person who did something to you, a loved one, a friend, or something that you possess." I explained anyway.

Smarty takes his pistol out of his suit and points it at me.

"Stop being a dictionary, Birchwood!" He exclaimed angrily.

"Well, I got news for you, meathead!" I exclaimed angrily. "You told me that you wanted to kidnap for revenge! I know what you're talking about! You're mad at me because I dipped Judge Doom for a few reasons!" As I continued to explain, Smarty's angry softens a tiny bit and he lowers his pistol. "The first reason was because he killed Eddie Valiant's brother and got away with the robbery of stealing from the First National Bank Of Toon Town. The second was because of his plan of killing every Toon and wiping out their homes, town, and work places for building a freeway was considered a mass killing of one species. I will define reason number two as a Toon Holocaust, the idea of many Toons dying a fast, quick, and painful death after getting dunked into the Dip. And the last reason is because Doom was going to dip you and the other members of the Toon Patrol after completing the freeway. Because once the freeway's completed, then Doom will think that you're no longer any good value to him and then, he'll dunk you in the Dip and once you die in a barrel of Dip, then nobody is ever going to remember you as anything except five weasels who have accomplished on working with a sadistic person and killing your species…"

I took a deep breath and continued.

"…I didn't come here because I wanted to spit on your face or to start a fight with you. I came here because of my cousin and I took her place in the challenge because she won't be able to see what's coming to her because she can't hear very well. I won't leave this place until I walk back home with Lexi and until I pass the challenge. I'm not going to back out on anything and I will continue to do these challenges."

I took another deep breath and finished with an "That's all I have to say about that".

Greasy, Psycho, Stupid, and Wheezy applauded for me and I heard Greasy exclaim something in Spanish that sounded like "Testify".

"I'm ready to move on to the challenge, Smarty." I said.


	18. A Letter To The Fans, Readers, Reviewers

**Hello, FanFiction users, guests/visitors, reviewers, and fans of **_**The Birchwood Twin(s),**_

**This is imaginarytoon1, the author of **_**The Birchwood Twin(s).**_

**As you probably already know, I wrote a note on the previous chapter that says that I will write a long chapter and upload it when I have the time. I'm still working on the chapter but due to school and athletics getting in the way, I won't upload the next chapter tonight (October 22, 2013). **

**I am planning to upload the next chapter on Friday (October 25, 2013) or a day early or later.**

**I know that you, the readers, are dying to know what is going to happen next in **_**The Halloween Special**_** and I want you to try your very best to be patient and I'll upload the next chapter when things settle down for me. I will also try to finish **_**The Halloween Special **_**before the upcoming Halloween holiday comes.**

**Thanks!**

**-imaginarytoon1 **


	19. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve **

**(Hey, y'all.**

**Again, I'm sorry for not uploading this chapter on Friday.** **I got really tired and I didn't get enough sleep due to catching up on my homework and studying for a chemistry test. And due to school, this story will be finished probably a little bit after Halloween. I have to tell you, school is such a pain in the neck when it comes to writing stories. **

**Anyway, here is Chapter Twelve. **

**The next chapter will come soon.**

**Oh! If you haven't heard of the **_**Hungarian Rhapsody **_**or **_**The Flight Of The Bumblebee, **_**go to these links at that bottom of this note. **

**-imaginarytoon1**

**PS: Attention, fans of **_**Who Framed Roger Rabbit, **_**there is officially a **_**Who Framed Roger Rabbit **_**forum on FanFiction. So try to spread the word of this forum and think about joining.**

**PPS: Enjoy the story and…try to enjoy life.**

** watch?v=MK0z3LS45xU**

** watch?v=Jhq-6375Arc**

**Again, enjoy! ****)**

**Beatrice:**

In the middle of the edge of the woods, there were three old upright pianos standing next to each other in a curvy line (with three stools). Yes, the Toon Patrol led me to the edge of the woods and either Wheezy or Smarty said that the second part of the challenge was going to be taking place outside. I don't have a problem with the woods or going outside. I just wanted to set up the setting a little bit, that's all.

"This is where the second part of the challenge is taking place." Wheezy said to me as we walked to the pianos.

"What do I do in this part of the challenge?" I asked and studied the pianos.

"Well…" Smarty said while still having a combination of being a little stunned and irritated from my speech. "We are going to see if you can play the piano the 'clongest'."

_Meathead, it's 'LONGEST'! _I thought.

"You're not going to be the only one playing the piano in the edge of the woods." Wheezy said. "Slimy and Flasher will be joining you in just a second. In this challenge, you have to try to be the remaining piano player in order to move on to the next challenge. If YOU stop, then you will lose one of your three chances and this piano will suck you in and take you back inside the house. After that, win or lose, you'll move on to the next part of the challenge."

Wheezy stops and lights two cigarettes. After taking a big ol' whiff of smoke and blowing out a ring of smoke that outlined my body as it came closer to me, Wheezy asked, "Can you play piano?"

"Yeah, I can play piano." I replied.

_I've played piano since I was six and that was before I climbed my first tree. _I thought. _That's when I was nine._

"Duh, what can you play?" Stupid asked.

"Many songs and pieces." I replied. "Rimsky-Korsakov, Offenbach, you name it."

"Can you play _Flight of the 'Bubble-Bee'_?" Smarty asked.

I looked at Smarty with a smug on my face and I chuckled for a brief second.

"I can play that piece." I replied.

"Ha! I doubt it." Wheezy said.

"Me, too." Smarty said and then, he crossed his arms and gave me a smug.

"Me, three." Stupid said.

"Play, pretty girly!" Psycho exclaimed and clapped his hands.

"_Si!" _Greasy said and clapped for me a little bit. "Let's hear you play the piece!"

I chuckled and cracked my knuckles.

"Okay, you asked for it." I said and sat down on the stool (in front of the piano) that was on the right side.

I took a deep breath, paused to add a little suspense effect, and then, I played the rapid introduction of _The Flight Of The Bumblebee. _The intro begins to sound like something from a cartoon was falling down and then, it begins to sound like something was being chased by another unseen being. With a calm look on my face and the adrenaline running through my fingers, I watch my fingers and try my best not to let them slip off of the keys or hit the wrong key.

_Boy, oh, boy, I can't wait to see the look on Smarty's face when I stop playing this piece! _I thought as I played and played and played.

After finishing the piece (_Flight Of The Bumblebee _is actually pretty short), I cracked my knuckles and I turned around to see how each weasel reacted.

Smarty's eyes were as big as basketballs and his jaw had dropped down the orange and yellow leaf-covered ground, exposing the inside of his mouth. Psycho was smiling, clapping his hands, and giggling. Wheezy's burnt out cigarettes were on the ground and his jaw dropped in shock. His bloodshot eyes were as wide as sugar plums and Wheezy didn't even blink. Stupid was staring at me blankly and Greasy was covering his mouth in shock, as if he just said a swear word in front of a two-year-old kid when he wasn't supposed to.

"That…" Greasy began and slowly took his hand off of his mouth. "…was…" He jumps off of the ground in joy and amazement. "…AMAZING! What did you think, Psycho?"

"HEE HEE HEE! PRETTY GIRLY PLAYS GOOD!" Psycho exclaimed.

"What did we miss?" A familiar voice asked.

"Yeah, did we miss out on something?" Another voice asked.

Smarty's jaw comes back up and looks to his left side. He had a smug on his face.

"Slimy, Flasher, you're here." He said. "'Tick' a seat and piano."

As Wheezy explained the instructions to Slimy and Flasher, I started to think about the songs that I should play and I even began to think about how I am going to beat two toon weasels, who go by the names 'Flasher' and 'Slimy', without getting distracted by any antics that they'll pull during this part of the challenge.

"Play well, _muchacha._" Greasy said.

"I will." I answered.

I was ready to do the piano challenge as soon as Wheezy was done explaining to Flasher and Slimy.

"Remember," Wheezy began, "you can play any song and you either can choose play another at any time after thirty seconds or one minute or you can play the same song. Are you ready to begin?"

I nodded but Flasher and Slimy exclaimed that they're ready.

"You three…may begin." Smarty said.

Immediately after Flasher played his song that I didn't know at all, I went right on ahead and played _Hello _by Evanescence. The slow beginning immediately made me think of something that makes me think that something is going to foreshadow the future.

I thought of myself sleeping during a violent thunderstorm and I wake up to the sound of someone knocking on the door. I wrap myself up with an old robe and walked to the front door. After opening the door, I see Smarty…with an evil grin…and…he's pointing his pistol at me. I immediately made a run for it and I heard Smarty pull the trigger and waiting for the right moment to shoot me. The pistol goes 'BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG!' and I scream for my life as I run around the house.

Gloominess turns to anger as I snapped myself back to reality and played a different song, _They Don't Really Care About Us _by Michael Jackson…again. Physically, I'm not showing my anger but mentally, I picture myself screaming at the top of my lungs like a rock star in a concert and destroying almost everything in my path, sidewalks, cars, ice sculptures, and walls in random buildings. I even pictured myself in a prison cell and throwing huge and heavy things at the wall in anger and in the urge to be free from confinement.

My thought was interrupted by a Slimy screaming in panic. While still playing _They Don't Really Care About Us, _I saw Slimy grab on the lid of the piano (the part where it covers the keys) and trying his best to not get sucked in to the piano. I watched leaves, dirt, and Flasher's green hat getting sucked in by a powerful vacuum-like wind and disappear in the piano. Dirt gets in Slimy's eyes and he lets go of the lid. Slimy yells 'NOOOOO' as he gets sucked in and disappears inside the piano. The lid closes after Slimy's yelling fades into a whisper.

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh," Flasher chuckled. "Looks like it's just you…and me, you broad."

"May the odds be ever in your favor and break a leg." I mumbled.

Immediately, Flasher began to play a song with a very fast beat. Although I played _They Don't Really Care About Us _at home for several hours, the weasel that I'm dealing with right now is trying to prove to me that he can try to beat me and I want to make his fingers too sore to play the piano.

The next song that I began to play was another song by Michael Jackson and I'm depending on _Beat It_, one of his songs, to help me win this part of the challenge.

With determination, I played the fast and the furious introduction of _Beat It _and I was encouraging myself to play for Lexi, just I urged myself to climb up a pipeline for Lexi.

_FOR LEXI! FOR JUSTICE! _I thought.

Then, a cream pie flies out of nowhere and hits the side of the piano. While I still played without looking at the keys, I turned to Flasher. He was smiling at me while holding another cream pie in his left hand while playing his song with his right hand.

"You better think twice before throwing that at me again!" I exclaimed over my song.

I looked back at the piano and then, I would aim my eyes at Flasher after every six seconds to see if he was up to anything. He's not going to distract me.

When I was right in the middle of _Beat It, _I glanced at Flasher and he threw that cream pie but I ducked while my fingers were still on the keys.

Flasher grabs another cream pie out of nowhere and throws it at me again. I ducked and Flasher unleashes a full round of cream pies. While my fingers were still pressing the keys and repeating the chorus of _Beat It_, I would duck out of the pies' way to prevent myself from getting hit, just like a Toon would do it.

It was at least a minute after Flasher threw the pies at me and his arm was looked like it was getting tired. Flasher gives me an evil grin on his face and I began to play _Hungarian Rhapsody _by Franz Liszt.

"Oh, you want to play that game, huh?" Flasher exclaimed and laughed.

I didn't answer and I played the song at fast pace. Flasher began to play the same song and like Daffy Duck from the Ink and Paint Club, he hits the wrong keys on purpose. If he can do that, then I guess that I can play faster than I usually play.

I pressed the keys harder and my wrists were getting sore. My fingers are tired, too, and I felt droplets of sweat running down my forehead. Flasher played at an equal speed but pressed the keys even harder.

_C'mon, Beatrice! _I thought. _You're playing this for Lexi! She's counting on you and it's make-your-cousin-proud time!_

I played and played and played until all of the sudden, my left wrist started cramp up and my fingers from my left hand began to get stiff. I still didn't give up and my right hand was still in good condition.

"GOOD LUCK IN LOSING, YOU BROAD!" Flasher exclaimed.

"I AIN'T GIVING UP YET!" I exclaimed, accidentally giving away a word from my Texas Country Vocabulary.

With determination and fury, I played the final ending number from _Hungarian Rhapsody _at a very, very fast pace.

_You're going down, Flasher, you son of a bilge rat! _I thought.

I glanced at Flasher and he was slowing down. Still, he doesn't give up. I played the ending number again at an even quicker pace. I looked at Flasher again and he was panting and the sleeves of his coat were getting torn.

_One more round, Beatrice. _I thought. _Just for luck and for Lexi._

At the most impossible speed, I played the finale from _Hungarian Rhapsody _and while I was about to end the song, I saw Flasher pass out and he lands face-first on the piano. After that, Flasher gets sucked into the piano and disappears after the lid closes.

I played the final notes of the finale with both of my hands and after the last two notes, I put my hands up in the air in victory.

Then, I noticed that the other members of the Toon Patrol were not present and I found a fortune cookie on the lid that was on top of the piano.

I cracked it open and pulled out a slip of paper and read it.

"**IF YOU'RE THE REMAINING PLAYER, **_**ENHORABUENA!**_** COME IN TO THE MEETING ROOM AS SOON AS YOUR DONE PLAYING.**

–**GREASY"**

At the bottom of the paper, Psycho's name was scribbled next to Greasy's signature.

…..

I walked to the house and I was about to knock on the door when it…opened by itself.

_That's cliché. _I thought. _That doesn't even scare me._

After entering the house, I peeked behind the door and I saw Psycho walking from behind it.

I smiled and chuckled a little bit.

"Hey, there, Psycho." I said.

"Hee hee! Good job on piano, pretty girly." Psycho said.

"Want to go to the meeting room?"

Psycho nodded and trailed behind me. We walked to the meeting room and I saw that Smarty was sitting on the same chair from the last meeting. In front of him, there was a glass pitcher and a glass full of water.

"So you 'vast' the first challenge, didn't you, Birchwood?" Smarty asked and pointed to the chair to his right. Psycho sat in a chair that was diagonal from where I was sitting.

"Yes, I did." I said. "It was too easy."

"Oh, really?" Wheezy asked as he and the other members came in the room. Slimy and Flasher came in last with angry looks on their faces.

Wheezy sat in a chair in front of me, Stupid sat in a chair next to Psycho, Flasher sat in front of Smarty, and Greasy sat next to me, once again, making me feel uncomfortable. Oh, yeah, uh, and Slimy sat in a chair across from where Stupid was sitting.

"Don't make us play piano with the broad again, Boss!" Slimy exclaimed and slime flew out of his mouth.

"Yeah, she's too good!" Flasher agreed.

"You're not going to play pianos with Birchwood again but you're going to 'punctuate' in the next part of the challenge." Smarty said.

"You were really good! You were on fire!" Greasy said.

_He's trying to do a compliment overflow! _I thought. _That's a serial killer's way of trying to make his victim comfortable!_

"Were you scared that you were going to lose, Birchwood?" Wheezy asked.

I shook my head no.

"Are you—Wait, hold on." Smarty said and scooted away from the table. He bends down and picks up something. He places…a green anole on the table and it crawled its way towards me.

I gave Smarty a look that would've said to him 'Seriously? How long are you going to keep this up?' I picked up the lizard carefully and Psycho randomly pulled out a glass jar out of thin air and slides the jar towards me. I put the lizard in the jar and thank goodness, the lid had holes in it.

"Smarty," I said. "I'm not afraid of lizards. I already told you to stop trying because you're not doing a good job on scaring me."

"Tell us what you're scared of, Birchwood!" Smarty exclaimed.

"I'm still not going to tell you."

"Why not?" Smarty and Wheezy asked in unison.

"Two reasons." I replied. "One, if I expose my fear to you, then you're going to use it in one part of the challenge and try to scare me with it."

"And the second reason?" Wheezy asked in a raspy voice and blew a ring of smoke at me.

I didn't make a reaction after the ring of smoke hit my face.

"You're gonna laugh." I said.

"Duh, what's the second reason, 'Bird-wood'?" Stupid asked.

I looked at Stupid and said, "It's BIRCHwood and I just said the second reason, dummy. If I tell you what I'm afraid of, then you're gonna laugh."

"C'mon, Birchwood." Smarty said to me. "We won't laugh."

"Yeah, right." I said, not really in the mood for tricks. "You say that you're not gonna laugh. And what happens after I tell you? Newsflash: you'll laugh."

"Please tell us, _muchacha._" Greasy said.

Then, all of the weasels start to beg and plead for about six seconds. Finally, I gave in.

"Do you guys _really_ want to know?" I asked.

All of the weasels nodded.

"All right." I said. "I'll tell you. But after I'm done telling you, I would like to move on to the next part of the challenge and say no more about my fear."

"Okay." Smarty said.

"Go ahead." Wheezy said.

"Tell us, pretty girly." Psycho said in a surprisingly calm voice.

I take a deep breath.

"I'm dreadfully afraid of…" I began. I paused and then, I groaned in frustration. "Oh, gosh…I'm scared of c-"

I get cut off by an unseen person playing an ominous tune on an organ.

"Who left the background music on?" Psycho and I asked in unison as everyone in the room looked for the player.

Wheezy spotted Flasher…playing the organ in the left corner of the room and I probably guessed that Flasher pulled the organ out of thin air.

"Hey, shut up!" Smarty and Wheezy exclaimed at Flasher.

Flasher doesn't pay any attention to them and continues to play an ominous tune.

Wheezy stands up and walks over to Flasher. I watched Wheezy take out his burning cigarettes out of his mouth and he puts them out with his stained fingertips. He reaches into his black vest and pulls out a giant pickle-sized cigar and a lighter. Wheezy lights up the cigar and brings it to his mouth. He takes a deep breath a smoke in and blows out a huge cloud of smoke at Flasher.

Flasher stops playing and he coughed in disgust.

_That wasn't very nice. _I thought.

"Shut up, Flasher, you just interrupted Birchwood." Wheezy said.

Flasher and Wheezy walked back to their chairs and Smarty says, "You were saying, Birchwood?"

Smarty picks up his glass of water and begins to take in a lot of sips.

I sighed and I felt my cheeks burn with embarrassment.

"What I was going to say…" I began. "…is…" I aimed my eyes at the ceiling in embarrassment and regret.

I sighed and I felt like a drumroll was rising in a crescendo to add a suspense effect. Suspense went to a cliffhanger and then, the final answer:

"I'm afraid of cinnamon."


	20. Chapter 13 part one

**Chapter Thirteen part one**

**(Here it is, the first part of the thirteenth chapter! Oooh, it sounds creepy…if you're a strong believer on Friday The 13****th****, a big fan of the horror movie **_**Friday The 13**__**th**__**, **_**or a big fan of Halloween, if this makes any sense.**

**Anyway, enjoy the chapter…and life.**

**Try out the new **_**Who Framed Roger Rabbit **_**forum if you can or want! **

**-imaginarytoon1)**

**Beatrice:**

As soon I said that I was afraid of cinnamon, Wheezy choked and coughed on the smoke from his giant cigar, Psycho looked at me with shock, his hair becoming the spikier than before, Stupid's jaw dropped in surprise, Slimy and Flasher…I don't what they were doing, Greasy looked at me with surprise, and Smarty did a spit take, spitting water on me.

Then, simultaneously, the weasels, even Greasy, began to laugh their heads off while I wiped Smarty's water off of my face in disgust.

Smarty fell out of his chair and I watched him roll around on the floor while laughing. Greasy, however, was trying his very best…or his very worst…to settle down and not laugh anymore. Psycho didn't fall out of his chair but he was rolling on the edge of the table, laughing like a maniac.

I gave the weasels an irritated and angry look and I told them that I would like to move on with the challenge. But, of course, the weasels continued to laugh and didn't even stop to listen.

What I said was really true. I really am afraid of cinnamon.

I knew that the weasels were going to laugh at me and I shouldn't have told them that I was afraid of cinnamon. I feel awfully stupid right now.

But as the other weasels were laughing their heads off, Smarty crawled up the table and in between laughs, he said,

"'Synonym'?! HA, HA, HA, HA! You're afraid of…ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!...'synonym'? THAT SPICY BROWN STUFF THAT YOU PUT INTO 'SNAPPLE' PIE?! OH, HO, HO, HO, HO! THIS IS TOO GOOD! HA, HA, HA, HA!"

"Well, I have a good reason to be afraid of _CINNAMON!_" I replied. "And I would like to move on the next part of the challenge."

"Not until…*cough, cough*…ha, ha, ha, ha!...Not until you give us the reason why you're afraid of cinnamon!" Wheezy laughed, coughed, and…wheezed.

I opened my mouth to say the reason behind my fear of cinnamon but I shook my head and I did a face-palm. My cheeks were still burning of embarrassment.

All of the other weasels, except for Greasy (who just stopped laughing all of the sudden), continued to laugh while I rolled my eyes and I felt my cheeks burn in embarrassment. Greasy puts his hand on my left shoulder and asked me if I was all right.

"I shouldn't have shared my fear and I feel awfully stupid." I replied.

"But why are you afraid of cinnamon?" Psycho asked while trying to settle down with the others.

My brain says, "Don't tell them or you'll make things worse", but my mouth makes the words slip out of my mouth. As I explained, the other weasels were trying to calm down and listen and trying their best…or their worst…at stifling their rounds of laughter.

"I was at a relative's house and she was making breakfast. While preparing a dish, she poured an enormous amount of cinnamon on top of it. After taking a bite of the food that was on the dish, I began to choke and my tongue and throat started burning. I nearly died and I couldn't taste _anything _for three weeks. Ever since then, I would not go near a container, canister, or a stick of cinnamon because I had a near-death experience with it. Now that I've finished explaining, I would like to move on to the next part of the challenge."

Smarty laughed his last laughs and guzzled down the last bit of water that was left in his glass. I can tell that he still has the urge to laugh.

"All right, Birch-*ahem*-Birchwood." Smarty said. "We'll move on now. Wheezy, explain the next challenge to Birchwood, will ya?"

Wheezy inhales on his cigar and began to explain,

"We're going back outside in a few minutes and at the back of the house, there is a ball *cough! cough!* and your tennis racquet that you dropped during our big musical number. Boss and I would *cough! cough! gasp! cough! cough!* explain the challenge as soon as we're out of the house."

"All right, boys…and-" Smarty said and then, he stifles a snicker. "—Birchwood. Let's go back outside."

We all walked back outside…well…Psycho and Stupid…starred out into space…and Psycho walked out of the room…came back with a wooden cane…extended it into the meeting room…and pulled Stupid out of the room. I guess old Toon gags never die or get old.

After walking back outside and walking to the back, I began to have a better view of where I came to the house of William Gallagher after smelling poppies, seeing pink elephants, heffalumps, woozles, and dancing cans of black beans, and getting saved by Gallagher's ghost before I nearly drowned in a river. But the time of the day is added to my list of questions that I have been asking myself since Tommy and I came and left Toon Town and Lexi's kidnapping:

_It feels like it's eleven thirty or a late noon but it's dusk. What is going on?_

"Birchwood!" Smarty exclaimed. "BIRCHWOOD!"

I snapped myself out of my thinking fantasy.

"Yeah, Smarty?" I asked.

"Can you hit a 'dentist' ball?" Smarty asked.

"Oh, I can hit a tennis ball."

"*cough* Let's see if you can hit it over the trees." Wheezy said and inhaled another round of smoke from his giant cigar.

I picked up my tennis racquet and the ball from the damp ground. I scooted away and I threw the ball up in the air. Almost like a catapult launching a huge rock, I swung my tennis racquet and hit the ball with extreme force. The ball flies over the trees and I heard Slimy, Flasher…and Greasy say,

"Wow", "JIMINY CRICKETS, WHAT A SHOT", "NICE ONE, MUCHACHA!"

Then, we listened to the sounds of the branches shaking and snapping and squawking birds flying out from the trees.

"All right, boys, go in to the woods and 'stutter' around. Don't start 'til I give you the 'shingle'." Smarty said.

The six weasels disappeared in to the woods and I watched them with nervousness, courage, and determination.

"What do I have to do in this part of the challenge, Smarty?" I asked.

"In this part of the challenge, Birchwood, you're going to bring the ball back to me. You're not going to 'stimply' grab the ball because this part of the challenge is really difficult." Smarty replied.

He stops talking for a second and pulls out a piece of paper that's folded up real neatly.

"Do you like to read, Birchwood?" Smarty asked.

"Oh, yeah, I love to read." I replied in a puzzled tone, confused by the sudden idea of Smarty getting off topic.

"A lot?"

"I'm a huge bookworm. Almost everywhere I go, I am reading a book."

"Ever heard of _The Most Dangerous Game_?"

"That Richard Connell short story?" I asked with surprise and interest. I stopped myself and said a new sentence. "Yes, I heard of _The Most Dangerous Game._ Why?"

"This is what this part of the challenge is like; 'excerpt' there is no killing. You're going to try to find the ball and bring it back to me. My boys are scattered around the woods and if you're caught by one them and brought back, then you'll lose one of your chances and take a 'drake'. After your break, you'll move on to the next part of the challenge and we'll decide if we can let you go home with your cousin." Smarty explained. "Do you think that you'll make it?"

"There's a fifty-fifty chance, Smarty, but I think that I will make it through." I said without trying to sound too confident.

"You may start the challenge after you hear Wheezy's tommy gun go off."

"All right."

"And don't try to run away because if you do…then you'll 'atom-matically' go to Toon Town and never see your family, even your little cousin, again. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Smarty. I understand."

Then, I heard the sound of a rapid gunfire. The sound of the shots echoed in the area and the sounds faded to nothing.

"All right, Birchwood, do you have any last words?" Smarty asked.

"In the meeting room, you said that I passed the first part of the challenge. You already said that after I walked out of the room where the first part of the challenge took place. You should've said that I passed the second part of the challenge. And I don't want you to hurt Lexi when I'm the woods." I replied.

Smarty rolled his eyes and told me to begin the third part of the challenge. As I was about to walk down a narrow and thick trail, I thought,

_Be careful, Beatrice. Your life depends on Lexi's safety and yourself. Try not to wander into places that could be dangerous._

I sighed and said to myself, "Don't worry, Lexi. I'll win for our safety. Try to hang in there, okay?"

Then, I took a deep breath and entered the trailer.

**(To be continued…)**


	21. Chapter 13 part two

**Chapter Thirteen part two**

**(Hey, y'all! :D **

**How's life?**

**Good? That's cool!**

**Bad? It's okay, things will get better.**

**Tired and want to go to sleep? My advice: Drink a whole can of D.P. (Dr. Pepper)…or coffee. **

**Ha ha ha ha ha! XD**

**Okay, okay, okay, I'll cut to the chase.**

**We now…return to…(drumroll, please ;-))…**_**The Birchwood Twin(s): Halloween Special**_**.**

**-imaginarytoon1)**

**Beatrice:**

A few things happened before the third part of the challenge officially began. One, when I said 'I took a deep breath and entered the trailer', I made a mistake at the end. I was actually looking for the word 'trail' instead of 'trailer'. I was so focused on the challenge and freeing Lexi that I mixed up my words. Two, Smarty stopped me before I went too far into the woods and he handed me the folded piece of paper. I decided to look at it later and put it in my hoodie pocket. And lastly, after going further in to the woods for some time, I heard a faint sound of gunshots.

_That's probably Smarty's signal that he was talking about before this part of the challenge began. _I thought.

I know that I make too many realizations but I really have to say this. I noticed a couple of times that whenever Smarty mispronounces a word, he would say the word that he mispronounced before and pronounces it correctly.

_Maybe he is trying to improve a little bit on his speech. _I thought.

As the trail was expanding little by little and the trees were growing thicker, I came across a river, at least as wide as two and a half persons, that was running downstream. There are no stepping stones and the river was probably at least a couple, not two, feet deep. Smooth stones, algae, a branch, brown mud, and two perch were present inside the river.

I know that I can't stop right where I am because there's a river in front of me. So I decided immediately that if the river was deep, then I had to dog-paddle through the river, regardless if I get swept away from the shore.

Carefully, I stuck my foot in the river. It wasn't too cold and the current wasn't too rough or too fast, which was good. I carefully got in the water and making sure that nothing is going to fall out of my pocket. Nothing but the tips of my shoes touch the rocky and muddy bottom. It's a good time to dog-paddle.

Obviously, like a dog, I swam to the other side of the shore and I crawled on to the shore like a turtle.

_Do the Turtle Crawl. Hey-yo, hey-yo. _I thought with sarcasm.

I began to wring out the hems of my shorts and my hoodie and I made sure that I won't make this part of the challenge to easy for the other weasels to track me down. I even ran around in circles a couple of times to dry myself a little bit. Then, I took the paper that Smarty gave me out of my pocket and I carefully opened it as I walked away from the river.

After unfolding the paper, I saw a hand-drawn rectangle on the bottom of the paper. The rest of the paper was covered with dark shades, as if I was looking at a sketchpad version of night time. Five to six small, white, blank circles were scattered around the paper and a drawing that makes an outline of a bean plant root that stretches and expands from the bottom to the upper half of the paper. A snake-like drawing that stretches from the lower left corner of the paper to the middle and squiggly lines are displayed through the drawing.

This is a map that I'm holding right now. The rectangle at the bottom of the page was the starting point, the house, I mean, and the scattered blank circles are probably areas of the woods that have been cleared a little bit. I am guessing—

*SNAP!* *BONK!* *HYUCK, HYUCK, HYUCK!*

"Will you shut up, Stupid?!" I heard Flasher exclaim loudly. He sounds really, really close.

"Duh, did you hear something, Flasher?" Stupid asked.

Immediately, I stood on the balls of my feet and took off running. I was heading back to the river.

"I heard something from over there!" Flasher said as his voice is fading, due to running away from him and Stupid.

After arriving at the river, I turtle-crawled back in and swam upstream. The current was pushing me hard, urging me to go downstream instead. I pushed even harder. Then, I heard Flasher and Stupid's running footsteps and I disappeared underwater, leaving no trace.

Harder and harder I swam upstream. I opened my eyes and because of the current, my eyes felt like they were going to be pushed in to my head. I try my best to not give up and I wished that I was a fish. I can swim well but I envy fish because their eyes don't sting or get irritated after swimming around in the water.

Unfortunately, I gave up on swimming upstream and I decided to swim downstream. Fortunately, I have the ability to hold my breath for a certain period of time. So swimming downstream won't be difficult as long as I stay under the water and come back up to the surface for air a couple times without exposing myself.

*BANG!* *SPLASH* *BANG!* *SPLASH* *BANG, BANG, BANG!* *SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH*

I watched the tiny bullets act like mini-torpedoes as they're being shot in the water. I'm going through a challenge that's possibly a combination of _Lord Of The Flies _and _The Most Dangerous Game. _

Then, the gunshots stop and I watched the wiggly shapes of Flasher and Stupid walking away from the river and disappear somewhere deeper in the woods.

That was really close.

Carefully, I swam up to the surface of the water and took a deep breath. I dove back in the water and I continued to swim in the river.

When two minutes felt like forever, I swam back up to the surface of the water to take another deep breath. I was caught by a tangled mess tree roots and I carefully climbed out of the water, keeping my guard up and making sure that no weasel comes out of nowhere and makes an attempt to catch me. I have to trick the weasels somehow and find something that'll give me more time to find the tennis ball and to think about what to do next.

I couldn't believe the sight of the damp ground when my wet feet finally touched the land. There were many unnatural things, like duck decoys, pipes as wide and long as my legs, a shiny survival knife, a faded orange balloon with a lot of air in it, latex gloves, and many things of some sorts were scattered around. The only thing that was natural and earthly was a giant mud pit.

It was no surprise to me that people who carelessly throw stuff out of their cars and trucks and their litter ends up somewhere else. But what did surprise me was that I had an idea after looking at the stuff that's scattered around the woods.

My great-granddaddy once told me that if anyone was a friend to nature and the woods, then nature and the woods are friends to you. I'm definitely a friend so I have to put my plan to work.

I took Greasy's apple, roll of duct tape, and the maps to Gallagher's house and the woods out of my hoodie pocket and took off my hoodie. I placed it next to an enormous pile of leaves and gathered up the things to make…a decoy version of me.

I grabbed a rusty bucket and placed it in front of one of the trees. After picking up a manual hand drill, I marked a spot on the tree. I began to drill to the layer where there's an abundant supply of sap. Every now and then, I would stop and check for any weasels running around the area that I was in right now. After checking, I made it to the layer of sap and it runs down to the bucket.

I ran to a pile of old and worn paintbrushes and I ran back to the bucket of sap. I stirred up the sap and began to find some parts that'll make a good decoy.

After some time later, I found a balloon, two latex gloves, two pipes, a black marker, and a torn garbage bag (but no garbage).

I grabbed the bucket of sap and went to work on my decoy. With the black marker, I made a quick but realistic sketch of my sleeping face on the balloon. I rubbed in some sap in my hoodie and stuck the balloon in it. Like making a teddy bear, I stuffed leaves in my hoodie sleeves and I rubbed in a little bit of sap around the outside of the latex gloves. After stuffing the gloves with leaves, I stuffed the bottoms of the gloves into the sleeves. Thanks to the duct tape, I taped parts of the pipes in the garbage bag.

So far, my decoy, now named 'AKA', looks good but what am I going to use to make shoes for AKA?

I looked at the duck decoys. Their colors are fading but they would have to do…for now. I took off the heads of the decoys and applied a not-so-thick coat of tree sap. I placed the decoys at the ends of the pipes and AKA is completed.

"I assure you, Psycho, I heard something over there." Greasy said from a far distance.

"MONSTER!" Psycho exclaimed in fear.

I gasped quietly and made AKA 'sleep' in a fetal position. I stuffed Greasy's apple in my left pocket of my shorts and the survival knife in the other. The maps were stuffed into my shoes and the roll of duct tape was around my wrist like a thick wristband. I ran to the closest tree and with speed, I climbed up to the middle of the tree and concealed myself in a pile of leaves on the same branch.

Greasy and Psycho walk in to the area of lost items and litter.

"PRETTY GIRLY?" Psycho asked with curiosity.

"_Muchacha?_" Greasy called.

I watch them and they don't even look up. Psycho spots AKA and he walks around it like he was a shark.

"GREASY! PSYCHO! YOU FOUND BIRCHWOOD!" Wheezy exclaimed while he, Stupid, Flasher, and Slimy walked over to Greasy, Psycho, and AKA.

"It's obvious that she's asleep." Slimy said.

"Let's drag her to Boss and when she wakes up, we'll tell her that she lost the challenge." Flasher said.

"All right, boys," Wheezy said. "Give me a *cough, cough* hand here and let's get to work."

Carefully, I watched five of the weasels carry AKA away with a combination of delicacy and roughness. Greasy stays behind and my heart began to beat at a fast pace.

Then, something rolls out of my pocket. I didn't move but I watched…Greasy's apple fall down and landed next to a pile of leaves.

_OH GOSH! I'M TOAST! _I thought.

Greasy walks to where the apple landed and examines it with confusion. I listen to him say something in Spanish and I watched him walk away after Wheezy called Greasy.

I let out a huge sigh of relief.

I really want to climb back down but since I'm so tired…thirsty…and hungry…I decided to stay on the tree branch and rest.

As I close my eyes, I thought,

_I can't believe that the weasels thought that AKA was me! Ha ha! You know, some weasels are just plain stupid._


	22. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen **

**(A few things to say:**

**Enjoy life as it goes on**

**Keep Calm and Read Fan-fiction**

**Before you read the story, go on YouTube, type in "HOT PEPPER CHALLENGE….GloZell", and click on the first video that's on top of the list because in this chapter, one of the characters does a parody-ish…re-enactment thing of the video on YouTube. Also, check out **_**Diem Ex Dei **_**by Globus because it's also going to be used in the fifteenth chapter.**

**Sorry for not posting this on Thursday or Friday because I am on an overnight athletics trip and the WiFi in the hotel that I'm staying wouldn't allow me to get FanFiction until I join a silly hotel membership thing. Boo. **

**Happy Late Halloween to y'all and just call this story **_**The Birchwood Twin(s): (Late) Halloween Special.**_

**Depending on you, the fans and readers, I might be able to work on another **_**The Birchwood Twin(s) **_**and I can use some ideas and/or suggestions. You can PM me or write your ideas in the comments.**

**and…**

**Kick back, relax, and enjoy the story because this is going to be one heck of a chapter. It's really, really long.**

**-imaginarytoon1)**

**Greasy:**

I was really confused after finding an apple next to a tree. In the woods, there are no apple trees in sight. Not one…or two…or three apple trees. There just regular trees in the woods but I don't what kind they are. I even found a couple of dead trees with Psycho.

Anyway, after putting the apple inside my right trouser pocket, I asked myself, _"¿Por qué está esto aquí en el bosque? ¿Se cae la chica o no esta manzana acaba de caer del bolsillo de su chaqueta? Bueno ..._"

Then, I was interrupted by Wheezy and I had to catch up with him, Psycho, Flasher, Stupid, and Slimy.

Another thing that made me confused was finding the _muchacha _asleep in the woods. I mean, she did a great job in the other parts of the challenge and now, she's sleeping on the ground.

_Perhaps the _muchacha_ was really tired and she needed some rest. _I thought.

But still, I think that _muchacha _can do better than just fall asleep in the woods.

Now that I found _muchacha, _along with the others, I hope that Boss won't be too hard on her for falling asleep. I didn't help the members carry the _muchacha _but I kept an eye on them and made sure that they weren't going to hurt her.

As soon as we (Psycho, Stupid, Wheezy, Flasher, and Slimy, including myself) made it to the edge of the woods, Boss looked at us with surprise and interest.

"What do you have there?" He asked.

"We found Birchwood sleeping in the woods." Wheezy said and blew out a cloud of smoke after he helped Psycho, Stupid, Flasher, and Slimy set the _muchacha_ on the ground. "Although it's too soon, she didn't pass this part of the challenge."

Then, Boss started to dance around in joy and I just watched him, although I wasn't really impressed with his dancing.

"All right, Birchwood," Boss said after he stopped dancing his horrible dance, "you 'lust' this part of the challenge. So...Hey, Birchwood, wake up!"

I chuckled and shook my head.

"Sound sleeper, isn't she, Boss?" I asked.

Psycho walked over to the _muchacha _and he begins to shake her awake.

"Wake up, pretty girly." He said with a small sad and concerned look on his face. "Wake up." Psycho looked at me and asked, "Is she dead?"

"I don't think so." I replied and walked over to the _niña dormida. _"Wake up, _muchacha_." I shook her arm and I heard a crunching noise.

"Did you guys hear that?" Slimy asked.

"Yeah," we all said in unison.

Then, Boss walked over to the _muchacha _and without warning, he kicked her. Although the _muchacha _didn't respond to Boss's kick, I was angry at him.

"Boss, _no se puede poner en ella! Eso quiere decir!_" I exclaimed.

"Uh, Greasy? Before you start fighting with Smarty, you might want to see this." Flasher said.

"What is it?" Boss and I asked in unison.

"I don't think we caught the real Birchwood. This could be a decoy." Slimy said.

Boss and I walked over to the _muchacha _and Flasher pulls down the hood of the jacket, exposing a balloon with a face drawn on it.

I was shocked to see that and at the same time I was impressed. I thought that _muchacha _pulled off a really good trick. I never thought that a human like _muchacha_ can pull off a Toon trick.

I looked at Boss and he didn't look very happy. Steam was coming out of his ears, eyes were turning red, and he growled in frustration and shock.

"Grrr…BIRCHWOOOOD!"

**Beatrice:**

I woke up after listening to a voice screaming 'BIRCHWOOD' and it echoes in the woods. I guess Smarty found out that Greasy and the others brought in AKA instead of me. I still can't believe that the weasels fell for the decoy.

Then, I heard shuffling and rustling noises and I remain hidden on the tree branch.

An angry Smarty enters the area and the other weasels trailed behind him. Stupid and Wheezy were the furthest behind the other weasels because they were dragging in one of the pianos from the second part of the challenge.

"This is where we found the decoy, all right." Flasher said.

"And here's the piano that Birchwood played during the second part of the challenge." Wheezy said and coughed out a puff of smoke.

Psycho stands on the spot where AKA was 'sleeping' and Wheezy points at that spot.

"And over where Psycho is standing *cough, cough!*, that's where the decoy was 'sleeping'." Wheezy said.

"I can't believe you idiots fell for the trick!" Smarty exclaimed angrily.

"We didn't know that it was a decoy!" Greasy said.

"PSYCHO!"

Psycho looked at Smarty and asked, "Yes, Boss?"

"You're good at smelling for things, right?" Smarty asked.

"Uh hah."

What on Earth is Smarty doing to Psycho? Treat him like he's a bloodhound?

"Then, get your super 'stiffer' working and look for Birchwood!" Smarty exclaimed.

_Yes, Smarty's treating Psycho like he's a bloodhound. _I thought. _I don't think I put on anything with a strong scent._

Then, Greasy takes out the green apple and Psycho starts to smell the apple. Just like a bloodhound smelling for the scent of a criminal, Psycho wanders around the area in circles while smelling for me. Then, he walked to the piano. Psycho places his nose on the keys and he slides it down the piano. I rolled my eyes, shook my head, and chuckled. What Psycho just did on the piano just made my day. It was just really…adorable.

Then, I watched Smarty walking around in circles and began to think about something.

"I know that Birchwood is somewhere in the 'hoods' and she's probably one of those girls who can get distracted by something while walking around." Smarty said.

What Smarty said was partially true.

"Boys, we're staying here until Birchwood comes." Smarty declared.

_Uh, hello? _I thought. _I'm watching you while hiding in this tree._

"And how are we supposed to bring Birchwood over here?" Wheezy asked.

"Here's what we'll do." Smarty said and all of the weasels gathered around him.

I watched the weasels whisper things and I listen to the giggling, snickering, and exclaiming. I hope that they're not thinking of any too extreme things that could hurt me.

After a couple of minutes, Smarty stops whispering things to the other weasels and they sit in a circle. Flasher snapped his fingers like he just had an idea and walks over to a tree behind him. He reaches behind the tree and takes out…a picnic basket?

"Whatcha got there, Flasher?" Smarty asked in a tone that sounds like fake interest.

Flasher doesn't answer and opens the basket. He takes out a sandwich with a paper towel wrapped around it.

_How can they think of food if they're trying to find me? _I asked. _Is this a part of the weasels' wicked little scheme? Or is the food a distraction?_

"I figured that we're going to be here for a while and I brought us 'sammiches' and these grapes right here." Flasher said and handed Smarty a sandwich.

"Good thinking, Flasher." Smarty said and grabbed the sandwich.

"Duh, what kind of sandwiches did you bring?" Stupid asked.

"Chicken sandwiches." Flasher replied with an evil grin.

I heard my stomach growl.

_Curses! _I thought. _I really wish that those weasels don't eat those sandwiches in front of me! I'm really hungry!_

Then, Flasher takes out a big bowl of purple grapes.

"Are the grapes seedless, Flasher?" Wheezy asked.

"I have the ripest, juiciest, and seedless purple grapes right here with me. Believe me, they look delicious." Flasher said.

One by one, every weasel grabs and eats their own sandwich and bunch of purple grapes. They eat their food really slowly and for me, hearing the sound of grapes crunching after the first bite is making my mouth water.

_This is not a time to be eating! _I thought.

Then, my stomach begins to growl and it feels like it's either turned inside out or like I'm going to throw up.

_Grapes and chicken! _I thought. _WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE GRAPES AND CHICKEN?!_

I watched Wheezy grab something out the basket and pulls out…a small red habanero pepper. Oh man, that's one of the hottest things in the world.

"That's the weirdest-looking grape that I've seen." Wheezy said.

_That's no grape. _I thought. _That's a habanero pepper._

"Wheezy, what is that?" Greasy asked.

"It's probably some weird-looking cherry." Wheezy replied.

Wheezy was about to bite down on the pepper but Greasy takes another quick look at it and shouted to Wheezy, "Stop! THAT'S A PEPPER!"

_Oh, man, Greasy, I really wanted to see Wheezy eat that pepper! _I thought.

"So?" Wheezy asked. "It's just a little red pepper."

"I'm warning you, Wheezy." Greasy said. "It's really, really, really, really hot! Your tongue will be on fire if you eat that pepper."

"Whatever. I'm still going to eat this."

Then, Wheezy pops the pepper into his mouth and despite of him looking a little blurry from where I am, I watched Wheezy chew on the pepper. He acts like nothing bad is going to happen.

"What's supposed to-?" Wheezy began and then, he suddenly cuts himself off.

_Oh boy, here we go. _I thought.

With his cigarette smoke and fire, Wheezy coughs in disgust and surprise and then, he starts exclaiming in pain. Exclaiming in pain goes back to huge rounds of coughing. This time, Wheezy's coughs don't sound like regular coughs. The coughs sound like a combination of two sounds, like someone just put their car in park and pressed the gas pedal multiple times (that loud humming/roaring noise that the car makes) and someone was burping after chugging down a bottle of Coke-Cola (I say that instead of 'Coca-Cola'.).

"GIVE ME SOME-*COUGH, COUGH, COUGH, COUGH*-WATER! RIGHT NOW!" Wheezy exclaimed.

The other weasels couldn't do anything…other than watch Wheezy and laugh their heads off. They were laughing much harder than they were when I told the weasels that I was afraid of cinnamon.

I was being careful not to literally laugh out loud while seeing Wheezy screaming, coughing, and running around after eating one of the world's hottest peppers.

While Greasy was tossing random stuff out the picnic basket, he laughed really hard and exclaimed to Wheezy, "I warned you and you didn't listen!" Then, Greasy hands Wheezy something that looks like a thermos or a shiny water jug.

Wheezy didn't hesitate and he snatched the thermos…or water jug…out of Greasy hand and takes off the lid. He waterfalls the water, hoping that it would appease his burning tongue.

It was quiet in the woods and I was still trying not to laugh out loud by putting my hand over my mouth. Unfortunately, Wheezy didn't stay quiet for long and he starts spitting the water out of his mouth and screaming and gargling water…all at the same time. The other weasels continued to laugh as Wheezy exclaimed, "IT'S NOT WORKING! GIVE ME *COUGH, COUGH, COUGH* SOMETHING ELSE! *WHEEEEZE* HURRY UP! HURRY UP!"

I still kept my laugh bottled up but it really wasn't easy. I know that I won't keep my upcoming laugh bottled up for long.

While all of the other weasels were laughing really hard, Greasy starts looking for something else to stop the burning sensation on Wheezy's tongue. After a couple of minutes, Greasy takes out a glass bottle of…Coke-Cola?

"Here, Wheezy—ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!—try this!" Greasy said and popped off the lid of the bottle.

Wheezy took the bottle and chugged down the liquid. After pausing for a few brief seconds and letting out a long burp, a loud laugh explodes out of my mouth.

"HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!" I laughed.

Then, all of the weasels freeze.

Uh oh, I shouldn't have laughed. I slapped my hand over my mouth.

"Did you hear that?" Stupid asked.

"I sure did." Greasy said.

Then, Smarty looked around and saw me sitting on the branch.

"BIRCHWOOD!" He exclaimed angrily.

"Where is she?" Greasy asked.

"UP THERE ON THAT TREE!"

Every weasel looks up at me and I knew that I was in a lot of trouble.

_Do any members of the Toon Patrol have the ability to climb trees like me? Why am I like a cat on this tree branch and all of the weasels at the bottom are like dogs? What should I do now? _I thought.

"I am not getting off this branch and there's absolutely no way that you're going to make me get off!" I shouted.

Smarty, for a random reason, threw his hat down to the ground and ran to the tree. He begins to climb up the tree like it was a ladder and almost immediately, after climbing up six feet, Smarty falls back down on the ground.

I rubbed my fingernails on my shirt and blew on them.

"Is that really the best you can do?" I mumbled.

"I was just 'warning cup'!" Smarty exclaimed.

"It's 'warming up', Smarty!"

He immediately begins to climb up the tree again and falls back down after only covering two feet. Still, Smarty doesn't give up. He climbs up the tree again…and again…and again…and again…and again…and again…and again…and again…and again…and it goes on for another fifty 'and agains'. The result was the same at the end: Smarty would fall back down on the ground and he would try to climb up the tree again.

"I'm coming 'cup' there, Birchwood! And you're going down! 'LITERARY'! This time, I'm going to the top!" Smarty exclaimed.

"I can wait all day long and the words you're looking for is 'up' and 'literally', not 'literary' and 'cup'!" I called to Smarty.

Smarty cracks his knuckles, takes a couple of deep breaths, spits on his palms, and grabs the tree. He begins to climb with determination and in vain. This time, Smarty is about to cover eight…well, make that ten…feet (I am forty-five feet up.). He's actually doing better than the last times. Smarty continues to climb up and then…

**(To be continued…IMMEDIATELY. XD! Ha ha ha! Gotcha! ;))**

…Smarty grabs a branch and it snaps. He falls down with the branch and lands on his back, making his silly pink zoot suit dirty and a little torn. Smarty's spats are covered with grime. Immediately, Smarty gets on his feet, takes off running to some place, and comes back with a clean pink zoot suit and cleans spats.

"This isn't the end, Birchwood!" Smarty exclaimed.

He was just about to the climb the tree again but Greasy, Stupid, and Wheezy come to Smarty and grabbed his arms and pulled him away.

"Boss, that's enough climbing." Wheezy said after blowing out a cloud of smoke.

"Si, boss. Take it easy, will you?" Greasy said, too.

Then, Smarty turns to Wheezy and he whispers something to him. I heard Wheezy say "Yeah" and "Hold on, *cough, cough* I'll get it" and then, he walked to the piano. He lifts up the lid and pulls out…his tommy gun.

_What is Wheezy going to do with that? _I said in my head.

Then, Wheezy points his tommy gun at me.

_Oh, no! That's not good! Not good at all! _I thought.

"On the count to three, Wheezy!" Smarty said. "One…two…"

I'm going to die tonight.

"STOP!" Greasy said at the very last minute.

"Greasy, don't 'incorrupt' us right now! We have to get Birchwood down!" Smarty exclaimed angrily.

"She is coming down but it will take some time."

"Duh, what are you saying, Greasy?" Stupid asked.

_What are you trying to do, Greasy? _I thought. _Because whatever you're thinking about, it's not going to work out._

"I'm saying that _muchacha _will come off that tree but not right at this moment." Greasy said.

"So, you're saying that we have to wait?" Wheezy asked.

"I'm saying that she'll come down eventually. Let's keep an eye on her and wait. I think that _muchacha _will come down if she gets bored or irritated. If she does come down, we'll deal with her."

I listen to the other weasels agree and eventually, Smarty begins to believe that Greasy's little plan is going to work.

"All right, boys. Let's follow Greasy's plan. Birchwood isn't going anywhere for now." Smarty said and looked up to me. "You hear that, Birchwood? If you come down, you'll 'snooze' this part of the challenge. We got all night, Birchwood."

"First, I heard what you said and I'm not deaf. Second, it's 'lose', not 'snooze'. Third, I can wait all year if I have to." I said.

Then, for the weasels, watching-time begins. Sitting-and-wondering-what-to-do-next time begins for me.

I looked at the scenery and began to unleash my river of thoughts.

Thought Number One:

_I feel like I'm living three stories that are known to little, some, or most people, _The Most Dangerous Game, Lord Of The Flies, _and _The Hunger Games._ I'm the prey, the genius, and the hero who is stuck in a tree and wondering what to next. I wish that Rue was a part of this challenge and she and I could drop a beehive on the Toon Patrol and escape. But heck, it's not going to happen because there isn't a beehive in sight._

Thought Number Two:

_Lexi, are you doing all right? If you are, try to wait a little bit longer. I will try my best to end the challenge and take you home. I promise that the Toon Patrol won't bother us again after I win the challenge._

Thought Number Three:

_Does Greasy still remember the promise that we made? Will he still remember that we're friends instead of enemies or dates?_

"Hey, _muchacha!" _Greasy shouted.

My river of thoughts is dammed up and I looked down at Greasy, who's waving his hands to get my attention.

"_Estas bien?_ Are you doing all right?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm doing all right." I replied.

"You hungry?"

After Greasy asked me that, my stomach began to growl. But I know better than to accept food from Greasy. He's going to add me to his list of women who were killed by having arsenic put into their dishes. I'm not a fool and I don't always get fooled real easily.

"No, I'm good." I lied.

"Just let me know if you do." Greasy said.

Then, my stomach begins to twist and growl and I felt like I was going to throw up. Still, I don't want to have arsenic put in me.

Time passes and I tried several things to keep me entertained while I still stay on the tree branch. I tried fiddling with a piece of bark, staring at the scenery on my left, and when it came to thinking about eating, I had to think that everything had bricks in them to keep my mind off of food. Sometimes it doesn't work and this is one of those times.

Then, I began to hang upside on the tree branch and I did a couple of flips on it like a gymnast.

"Wow, she's really good!" Wheezy said to Smarty.

"Birchwood is a 'shoe-off'!" Smarty exclaimed.

"It's 'show-off'!" I called to Smarty.

"Boss, can we go back to the house?" Psycho asked innocently.

"No, we're staying until Birchwood gets off that tree branch." Smarty said, bitterly. "Flasher, take out your ax and find us some good 'flyer-wood'."

"Right, Boss." Flasher said.

Then, Flasher walked to the piano and he chopped it up in to bits. I stopped doing flips and rounds of hanging upside down and I watched in horror when I saw that piano getting chopped in to splinters. That was a good piano.

I watched Stupid and Psycho scoop up big handfuls of chopped piano and they drop in the middle of their own little circle. When the pile was big enough, Wheezy throws in one of his burning cigarettes and the pile of chopped piano was lit up into a giant campfire…and it smells really bad. Now that it's really dark, the glow from the fire expands from the center of the Toon Patrol's circle to the top of my head.

I am planning to sleep a little bit and then, when the Toon Patrol is asleep, I'll find a way to escape, which is climbing up higher, then I'll look for the thickest branch from another tree, climb on to that particular branch, lead the Toon Patrol to another part of the woods, look for the tennis ball, and give it back to Smarty somehow. That's the plan. But before I do any of that, as I said before, I'll have to rest a little bit.

As soon as I closed my eyes, I heard Greasy ask the others,

"Want to listen to this?"

"Listen to what?" Wheezy asked back.

"A song that I found in the _muchacha's _mind."

I opened my eyes in confusion. What is he talking about? What does Greasy mean that he's found a song in my mind?

"I found this song in her 'Catchy but Really Annoying Songs' section of her mind. I listened to it a couple of times and it sounds really funny. It's different from our songs in Toon Town but it's nice." Greasy said.

"Well, okay. Let's hear it." Smarty said.

The Toon Patrol better think twice before playing whatever song they're talking about again.

Stupid takes out…a record player from the picnic basket (it's like a bottomless pit of wonder or Mary Poppins' magic carpet bag) and places it in between himself and Slimy. Greasy takes out a vinyl record from the inside of his coat and places it (the record) on the spinning turntable. Carefully, Wheezy lifts the tone arm and places it on the record. After adjusting a couple of knobs, Flasher flips a switch that makes the record player do its thing.

Before the song was played, Greasy snickered for a second and then,

"_BA, BA, BA, BA, BARBARA ANN,_

_BA, BA, BA, BARBARA ANN…_"

_OH NO!_ I thought. _I DON'T LIKE THIS SONG! Those weasels can't be serious!_

"_You got me rockin' and-a rollin',_

_ ROCKIN' and-a reelin',_

_ BARBARA ANN!_

_ BA, BA, BA, Barbara Ann…"_

Then Greasy sings along with the Beach Boys.

"_Went to a dance, _

_Lookin' for romance!_

_Saw Barbara Ann,_

_So I thought I'd take a chance_

_With Barbara Ann!"_

Then, all of the weasels began to laugh as Greasy would sing along and dance. He's making himself a big fool. I rolled my eyes back and pressed the back of head on the tree in irritation.

In an instant, the song stops playing and I heard Smarty laughing.

"You don't like this song, Birchwood?" Smarty called.

"No, I don't! And don't play that song again! If you think that you're going to play that song over and over until I get off this tree, then forget it! I'm still not coming down, even if you're going to play that annoying song!" I exclaimed.

Instantly, the weasels gathered up like football players strategizing their next move and they start to whisper something. I immediately regretted on what I just said to Smarty…because I just gave him an idea. Real stupid of me.

"Don't you dare play that song again! Even if you do, I'm still not going to come down!" I exclaimed angrily.

Immediately, the weasels stop whispering to each other and they separate themselves and looked at me.

"We're not going to play that song again, Birchwood!" Smarty exclaimed and put his hand behind his back. "We promise! Even I promise!"

I'm not going to buy it. I can see through Smarty's lie.

"Smarty, I know that you're going to play it again! You're lying!" I shouted.

"No, I'm not!" Smarty said with a smile and his hand still behind his back.

"Yes, you are! Your hand is behind your back and you are probably crossing your fingers! I'm not stupid!"

"DUH, THAT'S RIGHT, 'BIRDWOOD'! I'M STUPID!" Stupid exclaimed at me.

_Is Stupid really that stupid? _I thought.

"IT'S 'BIRCHWOOD', DUMMY! AND I WASN'T TALKING ABOUT YOU!" I replied and I turned to Smarty. "I KNOW THAT YOU'RE CROSSING YOUR FINGERS BEHIND YOUR BACK!"

"Give it up, Boss." Flasher said. "She's not buying it."

"Okay, fine!" Smarty said and threw his arms up in the air. "I give up! You're too smart, Birchwood! You're right and I'm wrong!"

"Yep, there's the hidden irony of your name. You call yourself 'Smarty' and yet you make and pick wrong decisions." I said to myself. I really wanted to say that to Smarty.

"Let's settle down, Boss." Greasy said to Smarty and shouts to me, "_Descansa, muchacha, tiene un largo día mañana!"_

I looked at Greasy.

"What did you say?" I asked.

"I said, 'Go ahead and rest! You have a long day tomorrow'!" Greasy replied.

"Oh, okay."

Then, all sounds, except for the crackling of the burning piano, ceased.

I am really tired right now. I am too tired to do anything, except think about things that are happened and what to do next.

_The reason why I built AKA was because I wanted to buy myself some time. _I thought. _But that didn't last very long and I wished that I hadn't sleep on the branch when I had the time to climb down and look for that tennis ball. Now that the Toon Patrol is here, I can't figure out a way to get away from them. Katniss got herself away from the other Tributes by dropping a nest of tracker-jackers on them. But unfortunately, _I continued, _there are no such things as tracker-jackers and I don't have a little girl named Rue to help me get out of this situation and become my ally._

Then, I heard something making a small, low humming noise. Probably just a little bug. I ignored the sound, closed my eyes, and tried to get a little sleep.

"_Ba, ba, ba, ba, Barbara Ann…" _ Smarty and Wheezy sung in unison.

My eyes shot open and I looked at the weasels. They were standing around their bad-smelling campfire, probably with big smiles on their faces. Smarty had a giant bass (I'm not talking about a fish but a giant violin-like instrument and you pronounce this 'bass' like 'base') standing beside him and Greasy had a guitar in his hands.

"_BA, BA, BA, BA, BARBARA ANN!" _All weasels, except Psycho, sung in unison.

I groaned and rolled my eyes.

"_Barbara A-AH-ANNNN, _

_ Take my HA-AH-AH-ND!" _ Psycho sang while Greasy strummed on his guitar, Smarty plucked on his bass strings, and the others danced around, sing the background singing, clapped their hands, and stomped their feet on the ground. While Psycho was singing, he uses…my waterproof flashlight as a microphone and a spotlight. I even noticed that Psycho's hair was spikier and looks really shiny. My guess is that he used Lexi's poison oak medicine as hair gel.

That was—Oh, no, now the weasels are about to sing one of the most annoying parts of the song.

"_Barbara A-AH-ANNNN,_

_ You got me rockin' and-a rollin',_

_ Rockin' and-a reelin',_

_ Barbara Ann!_

_ Ba, Ba, Ba, Ba, Barbara Ann!"_

The weasels repeat the first part of the song and I stared out into space with an irritation look on my face. The weasels don't see me make that irritated look on my face and they keep singing the song.

"_Went to a dance!" _Greasy sang.

"_Lookin' for romance!" _Wheezy, Flasher, and Slimy sang as a trio.

"_Saw Barbara Ann so I thought I'd take a chance! _

_Barbara Ann, Ba, Ba, Ba, Ba, Barbara Ann!" _All weasels sang in unison.

While the weasels continued to sing that annoying song, I placed my palms on my ears.

_SHUT UP! SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP! SHUT UP!_ I thought.

During the interlude of the song, I barely heard Smarty laughing with the other weasels and I knew that they were enjoying the sight of me getting irritated. I also knew that Smarty was going to sing _Barbara Ann_ at least a 'ka-billion' more times until I get off the tree and I'll lose one of my three chances and this part of the challenge.

"_Tried Peggy Sue,_

_Tried Betty Lou,_

_Tried Mary Lou,_

_But I knew she wouldn't do!_

_Barbara Ann!_

_Ba, Ba, Ba, Barbara Ann!"_ The weasels sung in their own little world of mayhem.

My arms were getting sore from holding my ears too long, my head was beginning to ache and get sore after frowning for a long period of time, and I felt like a volcano was going to blow up inside my head. I was really tempted to shout 'SHUT UP' at the Toon Patrol but I can't encourage them by doing that.

After I thought that the Toon Patrol was going to stop for a second, they continued to sing _Barbara Ann_ again, singing the song faster and faster as they repeat it again…and again…and again…and approximately sixty-seven more 'and agains' later, the Toon Patrol were beginning to slow down and Psycho was literally dragging himself around the campfire and was getting really exhausted by the second. My hands were slipping off my ears and I nearly slipped off the branch. Thankfully, I didn't fall off. The campfire was slowly dying down, Smarty weakly plucked one of the bass strings, causing it to snap, Stupid landed flat on his back in exhaustion, Wheezy was panting and smoking, Slimy was covered with his own slime, Flasher was out of breath, and Greasy was sitting down in exhaustion and pressing his back against another tree with the guitar still in his hands.

Smarty looked at me and he groaned.

"You win…for now, Birchwood…" Smarty panted. "…but you…won't be so…'plucky'…tomorrow…"

"Let's rest, Boss," Wheezy said. "I'm so tired."

"Me, too." Greasy answered.

All of the weasels agreed simultaneously on going to sleep and they all passed out in exhaustion. Well, except for Greasy. He was looking up at me.

"_Muchacha_?" Greasy asked.

"Yes?" I replied.

"Can I say couple of things to you?"

Uh oh. What is he going to say?

While covering up my feelings of anxiety, I looked at Greasy and said, "Yes. What is it?"

"I'm sorry for laughing at you when you said that you were afraid of cinnamon and I wasn't thinking about how you would react to the _Barbara Ann _song_. _I didn't think twice and I'm sorry." Greasy said.

Okay, I did not see this coming. That was…an awfully nice thing to say.

"It's all right, Greasy. Stuff like that happens." I replied anyway.

Greasy breathes a huge sigh of relief and then, before passing out in exhaustion.

Now that all of the weasels are asleep, I can escape but not right now. If I escape now, then all of the weasels are going to wake up and come after me.

The plan was to leap on to the thickest branch that I see and then, I would leap over to a few more thick branches until I'm out of the weasels' sight. I'll continue to look for that tennis ball and then, I'll somehow convince Smarty that I found the ball and he'll probably let me take a break and move on to the next part of the challenge.


	23. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

**(Hey, y'all. I'm back from the athletics trip. I'm really sorry that I couldn't get this story done on October 31****st****. Due to school, athletics, staying up really late and falling asleep while writing the chapters, this story will still be titled **_**The Birchwood Twin(s): Halloween Special **_**but add in a "Late" with a parenthesis after 'Twin(s)'. **

**Depending on you, fans, reviewers, guests, and readers, I might write a Thanksgiving special of **_**The Birchwood Twin(s) **_**but if you have any ideas or suggestions, just PM me or type in your ideas in the comments section and I could think of something. Make sure that the ideas are rated G, PG, or PG-13 and no rated R or anything higher than that.**

**I'll probably begin on adding cameos in my stories for now on…maybe.**

**Good news for you, the readers!**

**Coming up next in **_**The Birchwood Twin(s) **_**series:**

**The Birchwood Twins, the Toon Patrol, other Disney characters and a couple of characters from Dr. Seuss's stories star together in one of history's most famous films, **_**The Wizard of Oz. **_**Beatrice begins another new adventure that tries to teach her a powerful lesson that the world needs to know. This is sort of a story in the 'cross-over' section of **_**Who Framed Roger Rabbit **_**and it is actually my first cross-over. I'm going to give the new story a shot and it's also a semi-Thanksgiving special.**

**That's all I wanted to say.**

**-imaginarytoon1)**

**Beatrice:**

I waited until the campfire completely died down, which took a little while longer than I expected. The smell made my eyes droop and I nearly fell asleep. Right now, it's almost completely dark. The moon was full and it was pretty bright but not bright enough for me to see the ground below me.

Without the flashlight, I can't go down or leap on to the thick branch in front of me. If I immediately start looking for another place to hide, then I won't know what's going to come after me or where the weasels will pop out and take me back to the house of William T. Gallagher. I even wish that my vision won't be so blurry when I'm looking at something that's far away. That's a sign that I'm nearsighted and I need glasses and I don't know how I will remain a tomboy if I get glasses.

Anyway, I decided to climb up to the top of the tree and take a look around of the surroundings of the environment. But right now, I can't do that because my left foot has fallen asleep and I don't want to fall.

I started to swing my left foot and started to spin it around a little. The numbness goes away but the tingling comes back and I feel like I just got bit by a bunch of fire ants. Gently, I lifted up my foot and I started to smack the sole of my shoe, causing the tingling feeling to go away.

Carefully, I stood on the branch and began to climb up to the top. The moon looks like it's coming closer and closer as I climb up. As I continued to climb, the tree starts to go from very thick to slightly skinny.

I made it to the top of the tree and I got a very good view of everything that was below me despite of the far-away things looking like blurs. On my left, I saw smoke sprouting out of one area of the woods and I knew that it was Gallagher's house. When I looked at the area on the edge of the woods, I saw a bunch of suburban houses with a lot of lights shining through the windows. I looked up to the sky and the full moon looked beautiful. Even the evening star was present. On my right, I saw a huge rocky hillside that almost looked like it was a chunk of the Grand Canyon. That looks like a good hiding place and that's where I am going to a loop-de-loop on the weasels and look for that tennis ball.

I carefully began to climb back down to the branch and I stood on it as I made it back.

"Good evenin', _chere. _Nice night, innit?" A voice with a strong Louisianan accent asked me.

I looked around and on my right, I saw a bright, round, yellow light.

_It's just a firefly. _I thought. _Fireflies don't talk._

But then I realized that I was talking to a _toon _firefly and he looked very familiar.

"Actually, I was just looking at my surroundings…uh, what's-?" I began.

" 'Bout time I introduce myself." The firefly said with a big smile. "My name RAYMOND…" He flies in front of me and with a trail of light, he writes his name. "…but everybody call me 'Ray'." The last four letters of the name dissolved before my eyes and 'Ray' remains. "So why you up in this tree, _chere_?"

"Well, Ray, it's kind of a long story." I said.

"I don't mind long stories."

"It kind of begins like this: I am a part of this challenge and I was told to hit a tennis ball in the woods and go out and look for it. Everything began to stop working out smoothly because I'm constantly trying to not get caught by these weasels, who are one of the main reasons why I'm stuck on this branch. Right now, I'm about to leap on to that branch that's in front of me and get away from the weasels-"

"But the problem is that you can't see what's in front of you." Ray finished.

"Yes, exactly."

"Don't worry, _chere. _Evangeline and I will help you see."

Now I knew who he was! I saw him in a movie a couple of years ago! But I continued to act like I don't know Ray.

"Who's Evangeline, Ray?" I asked.

Ray gasped in joy and he flew up to the sky.

"There she is! The sweetest firefly who is glowing right up there in front of you." Ray said.

I looked at the evening star.

"Is that her right there?" I asked and pointed at the evening star.

"Uh huh. We're gonna give you hand, _chere!" _Ray said and turned to the evening star…er, Evangeline. "Darlin', let's help this girl right here-uh!"

"How are you going to-?"

Then, all of the sudden, Evangeline…dropped herself from the sky and transformed into one of those old-fashioned hanging oil lanterns with a bright, white light. Evangeline floats in front of me and I looked at her with amazement.

"Wow." I whispered.

"Now, where do you have to go, _chere?" _Ray asked.

"That rocky hillside…over there underneath the moon."

"Follow Evangeline and she'll show you the way!"

The light was so bright that it looked like day time in the woods. As soon as Evangeline floated towards the branch that I needed to leap on, I went right on ahead and jumped towards the branch like a frog hopping from one lily pad to another. While I leaped and climbed on other thick branches, Ray followed me and Evangeline. I have a feeling that my plan was going to work out fine.

"Hey, _chere! _What does a tennis ball look like?" Ray asked me as I climbed on another branch.

"It's small, round, and is bright green in color. It also has…'Wilson' written on the ball in black." I replied. "It's like a rock but really, really light and really, really, really round."

"I'm going to go look for that ball while Evangeline lead you to safety!"

"And while you're looking for the tennis ball, Ray, watch out for the weasels and don't let them take the tennis ball!"

"Got it!"

Ray flew away and disappeared into the woods. I hope that the weasels don't catch him. I don't want to lose my new ally.

Evangeline led me to the ground and I carefully climbed down one of the trees that leaped on to.

"Evangeline, make sure that you're not too bright. I don't want the weasels to see me." I said as my feet touched the ground.

Evangeline turned down her light a little bit.

"Thanks." I said.

Then I followed Evangeline to the hill. I know that we're getting really close to it because I notice that my footsteps were slowly not sounding like they're stepping on leaves. I heard small shuffling noises as I walked.

I even noticed that I was walking uphill and I carefully climbed up the slippery slopes of the hill.

Eventually, things began to change. Night time was about to turn into dusk, slopes transformed into a trail, and Evangeline transforms back in to a star and goes back up to the sky.

"Thanks, Evangeline." I said.

Then, Ray whistled to get my attention. I turned to him and I saw that he found the tennis ball! Man, that was really fast.

"Is this it, _chere?" _Ray asked.

"This is it, Ray!" I replied.

He tossed the tennis ball to me and I caught it.

"Thanks, Ray!" I said.

"You're welcome!"

This is it! I'm going to pass the challenge!

"In case if you need me, whistle, _chere!" _Ray exclaimed to me.

I gave Ray a quick demonstration of my whistle and asked, "Like that?"

"Yeah, like that!" He replied and as he began to fly away, Ray said, "Evangeline and I would watchin' and listenin'!"

"I'll keep that in mind!" I replied.

Now that there was a little bit lighter in the dusk hour, I can kind of see more of my new surroundings. The big rocks that make the trail look like the Grand Canyon were a rust-like color and the chipped bits and whole shapes of rocks were a lighter brown in color. Even the dirt had the big rocks' rust-like color. Dried bushes, green cacti, and prairie grass were the plants of the rocky hillside. The view of the woods, from where I'm standing, made me feel and act like I was an ant crawling through a shag carpet.

I walked through the trail without ever thinking about where I'm heading off to. There were many left and right turns and a few ups and downs. I felt like I was walking around in circles.

After an approximate thirty minutes felt like eternity, I found a mud pit that had the same color as the sand and the big rocks and a dried, dead bush with long roots was lying right beside it.

The mud pit and the bush just gave an idea that could make the Toon Patrol lose track of me.

_If I was going to pass the Toon Patrol, then I would have to think like a hunter, a chameleon, and Peeta Mellark._ I thought. _When a hunter becomes the predator, he follows his prey with quick and quiet feet. If a chameleon and Peeta wanted to slip away or hide, like prey, they have the ability to blend in to their surroundings. Peeta, however, isn't a giant lizard with big eyes so he uses his artistic abilities and natural things in the woods to help him hide. Even though I have the tennis ball, I think that it'll be better to meet the Toon Patrol at Gallagher's house._

I began to work on my plan.

Before I stepped into the mud, I grabbed a big stick from beside the dead bush and started to stick it into the mud pit. I'm only doing that so that I won't have to interact with a rattlesnake (because rattlesnakes are really testy when it comes across their predators. Despite of me not being afraid of snakes, I still have to be careful when I'm around them.).

After a thorough stir and a few more poking rounds, I figured that I should be good to go. I took my survival knife out of my pocket and set it close to the bush, along with the tennis ball. I slipped the duct tape off my arm and placed it right next to the knife.

I was actually looking forward to rolling around in that mud pit since I had an idea. I haven't rolled around in mud in a really long time. The last time I rolled around in the mud was when my dad took me and Tommy to the deepest part of the woods, not where Gallagher lived, and rolled around in the mud to prevent mosquitos and sunburns. At first, I wasn't sure if rolling around in the mud would help people (because I think that it only worked for pigs and even as a little kid, I thought too much) but I enjoyed it. Ever since then, I enjoyed mud.

Anyway, I carefully but quickly stepped in the mud. The coolness from the mud made goose bumps run up to my spine. Immediately, I dove in to the mud. It felt good on my face and on my body. I mean, this may sound really unusual but I feel really refreshed after dunking myself in the mud.

But sadly, I can't get too comfortable and I need to stick with my plan. I rolled around in the mud at least four more times to make sure that I'm almost completely covered with mud. Then, I got out of the mud pit.

I placed my left arm on a big rock that was on the left side of the bush. The mud was the right color of the rock but my mud-covered arm had the wrong texture.

With the help of the sand, I rolled around the dirt a couple of times and covered my face with dried grass.

I dug a small, wide, and deep hole that can hold a can of soda. I grabbed my survival knife and began to cut off the excess amount of roots of the bush. Thinking that the roots would be useful, I put them in a pile.

I put my dust-and-mud-covered arm on the rock.

"Yes, that's perfect!" I whispered. "But what should I do with the roots?"

I heard a rock fall down and a branch snapping.

"I say that we should go *cough, cough!* this way!" Wheezy exclaimed.

Thinking quickly, I put the bottom of the bush in the hole and filled it up with dirt. I threw the roots in the mud pit and I lied down in front of the bush…not before concealing the knife into the dirt and hid the roll of tape in my shirt, along with the tennis ball. I took a couple of deep breaths and lied still.

The Toon Patrol entered my hiding place and they don't see me. Smarty looked really angry and Greasy looked kind of calm.

"Where could Birchwood be?!" Smarty exclaimed. "She managed to get off the tree branch and 'clipped' away without us noticing! How long is she going to keep this up?"

"I don't know, Boss." Greasy said. "Maybe she's too good."

"I have to agree with Greasy on this one." Slimy said.

"But Birchwood's a human girl! Human girls can't think like Toons!" Smarty yelled and he sat down. He was really close to the edge of the trail (where there's nothing but big rocks and grass running downhill. It looked like a good place for a rockslide to take place) and the other weasels sat down beside him, lining up as they sat down. Greasy, along with Stupid, Slimy, and Psycho, sat on Smarty's left side while Wheezy and Flasher sat on the right.

"Boss, listen." Flasher said. "There are some humans who think like Toons and Birchwood isn't the only one."

Smarty looked at Flasher and took the time to think over on what he said.

"You're right, Flasher." Smarty said. "I should've remembered that. We should even remember that some Toons think like humans."

"Yeah, you're right." The other weasels agreed.

"And Greasy?"

"Si, Boss?" Greasy asked.

"I want you to be 'prayerful' on what you're saying in front of Birchwood." Smarty said.

"What do you mean by that? I didn't say any swear words."

"That's not what I'm talking about. I'm saying that if you say what you found in Birchwood's mind, then she'll start getting ideas and take 'cavantage' of them. If Birchwood thought of…for 'es-capel'…a thunderstorm…"

All of the sudden, a rumbling noise is heard and I hear thunder.

"…then Birchwood would continue to think of more ideas that'll 'pre-bendt' us from making her SLEEPWALK to Toon Town."

_Sleepwalk?_ I thought.

"Uh, Boss? How does the plan work again?" Stupid asked.

"Wheezy'll explain it to you." Smarty said after exclaiming in frustration.

"Remember after we *cough, cough, cough!* got out of jail and bought two amulets from the Evil Queen, the scary old lady from _Snow White, _and looked all over Los Angeles for Birchwood *cough, cough!* and her brother?" Wheezy asked.

"Duh, I guess." Stupid said. "But what are the amulets for again?"

"These amulets are used to enter a person's mind and see what they're thinking and dreaming." Flasher said. "Boss told me and Slimy that the amulets allow us to look through a person's memories, control their dreams and even have them under our control. So Boss decided to take advantage of the power of the amulets and even tore out a page from the Evil Queen's spell book. He found a spell, a TELEPORTATION spell, which allows him and even a group of friends to move to another place without having to walk or drive."

_Okay, this is getting interesting. _I thought. _They bought two magical amulets and a teleportation spell. The amulets give the owner the power to enter someone's mind._

"And Stupid," Greasy said, "the plan was to go inside of _muchacha's _mind and make her think that everything is all a dream right now but we're really making her sleepwalk to Toon Town."

"As long as Birchwood thinks that everything that's happening right now is a part of real life, then we'll have her and her brother in Toon Town in no time. Well, we'll bring in Birchwood first and then, we'll bring in her brother." Wheezy said. "And when we do, we'll show them the pain and torture that we had to face in jail and when we tried to cope with the death of Doom."

_The Toon Patrol is making me sleepwalk to Toon Town and they want me to feel their pain. _I thought.

"Birchwood's cousin isn't really kidnapped." Smarty said.

_What?! _I thought.

"Yeah, Stupid. We just made a clone of Birchwood's cousin so that she has something to forward to for some time." Wheezy said.

_After all this time, I've been worried about a Lexi duplicate. _I thought. _Who cares about that? She's still my cousin!_

While I watched the Toon Patrol carefully, I slowly began to get back on my feet. I picked up the knife, roll of duct tape, and tennis ball and stood still for a moment. Not a single weasel turned their head towards me.

_Quickly, Beatrice! _I thought. _Run and hide!_

After one last quick glance at the weasels, I threw the roll of duct tape on Smarty's right side to create a distraction. All weasels looked to their right and I took off running.

….

**Greasy:**

I turned my head to my right and I saw a round black thing roll down the hill. Then, I heard another noise, like someone was running. I looked to my left and it was…_muchacha!_ She was completely covered with mud and grass and I don't know why she's covered in those things.

I guess I should've kept my mouth shut when Boss heard me whisper "_MUCHACHA"_ because he spotted her, too.

Right now, _muchacha _is running down the hill with her careful and quick feet. Then after running down a few feet, she tripped and rolled down the hill. I was so worried that she was going to hurt herself.

"Greasy, give me the binoculars!" Boss exclaimed.

I reached into my coat and handed Boss my only pair of binoculars.

"Birchwood's still falling…still falling….and now…she's at the bottom of the hill and is…beginning to run in the 'hoods'." Boss said.

_Oh, thank goodness! _I thought.

"She's not going to make out of the 'hoods'." Boss chuckled.

I turned to him.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

…

**Beatrice:**

All of the sudden, something wraps around my left ankle and everything was upside down. The tennis ball drops out of my hand but the survival knife remains in my pocket.

I looked at my ankle and I found a rope around it. Smarty must've set a trap so that he would take me back to Gallagher's house without the tennis ball in my pocket.

After realizing that, I thought that I heard Smarty laughing in his own victory. But realizing that I still have my knife, I quickly began to cut the rope. While cutting it, I grabbed on to the rope with my free hand so that I won't hurt myself from falling from a five-foot drop.

Then, I heard the rope snap and the lower half of my body is back to where it originally was before getting hung up by a rope. I released the rope and landed on my feet.

I grabbed the tennis ball from the ground and began to climb on to a nearby tree.

….

**Greasy:**

_Muchacha _just keeps getting better and better every time she gets in to a dangerous situation.

She really needs to stop putting herself in a situation that could get her injured or killed. _Muchacha _means a lot to me and I don't want anything bad happening to her.

I looked at Boss and he nearly slammed my binoculars on the ground. Then, he stopped and looked at Wheezy.

"Do you still have your gun, Wheezy?" Boss asked.

Wheezy grabbed his gun out of thin air and aimed it at the top of the trees.

…..

**Beatrice: **

I thought that I was going to get killed when I heard Wheezy firing his tommy gun. As I continued to climb up, I watched Wheezy aim his gun at the rocks below him and the other weasels.

All of the sudden, the gunfire stops and all is silent.

I wondered what the Toon Patrol is thinking about right now.

I heard the leaves rustling and I felt the tree shaking. I looked down at the ground and I barely saw the things on the ground…shaking and bouncing up and down a little bit. I looked back at the rocky hillside and big rocks were rolling down the hill, creating both a rock and land slide.

Immediately, I leaped off the tree and began to run, avoiding rocks as the fly over my head and trees that fall down like a disease hit them and they all fall down like a line of dominos.

I guess Smarty is trying to prevent me from going to Gallagher's house. He probably told Wheezy to shoot at the rocks to create a rockslide and not go easy on the game for me.

My right foot gets caught into something and I tripped. I quickly get back on my feet and try to find my way back to the river.

_I know it's around here somewhere! I know that I'm getting close to it! _I thought.

Then, I stopped a pile of chopped up piano bits. I knew that I'm almost to the house. All I need to do is cross the river, wash off the mud and grass, and stop at the Smarty from trying to chase me. But I need to catch my breath first.

As I took several deep breaths, the rockslide stops and I heard the Toon Patrol coming towards me. I jumped into the river and began to swim upstream.

The current was running harder and harder and the mud slowly washes away and the grass comes off of my face. I swam with all my might, even with the current trying to push me back.

I dove under the water after I heard the Toon Patrol coming. Their colorful shapes act like a Jell-O and the outline wiggle like worms. While still trying to swim upstream, I watch Smarty walk over to the edge and stick his finger in the water. Just as he was about to take his finger out, I thought I saw his finger sparkle like blue glitter.

After coming up the surface for air, I saw one part of the water getting…frozen! I went back into the water and tried to swim upstream. Then, I noticed that the bottom of the river was going down in to the ground, making it deeper and deeper.

I dropped my tennis ball and it floats up. I grabbed on to it and the freezing surface of the water was getting thicker and thicker. I looked like I was in one of those instant-freeze water bottles (when you store a bottle of water in a room with a low temperature and after shaking it up, the water begins to freeze.) because the river is magically freezing up.

I hit my hand on the ice and it didn't make a crack. I hit it again but still no crack or dent. I was under thick ice and I really need to be breathe but I can't. I'm stuck at the bottom. My lungs felt like they wanted to explode but I can't get to the surface and take a deep breath. Still, I got to try to make an opening so that I can stick my hand out and breathe. I began to hit the ice with the last bit of strength that I have.

Finally, after several rounds of banging on the ice, my whole body went numb and I exhaled, letting out the last bit of air that I had in my lungs. My world went black as I floated in the water.

…

**Greasy:**

"We got her! We got her!" Boss exclaimed and danced all around.

I watched in horror as _muchacha _struggled to get out of the water and didn't come up to breathe. This can't happen! She needs to be alive!

"Boss, should we get the _muchacha _out of the water?" I asked.

"If you want to get her out, then it's your job to get Birchwood out." Smarty said.

Then, all of the other weasels, except Psycho, left the area and headed towards the house.

"C'mon, Psycho! We don't have a lot of time! We have to get the _muchacha _out of the water!" I exclaimed.

"Help PRETTY GIRLY! HELP PRETTY GIRLY!" Psycho exclaimed with worry.

With a rock, I threw it down on the frozen river. Immediately, it cracked open and I saw _muchacha _floating in the water with her eyes closed and didn't look like she was breathing.

I took off my green coat and ran down to the river. I grabbed ahold of _muchacha's _arm and pulled her out of the water. While I listened for any signs of breathing, Psycho brought my coat over to me and I wrapped the _muchacha _with it.

"Is she dead?" Psycho asked.

"No, she won't be." I replied.

I checked for any signs of breathing one last time and I opened _muchacha's _mouth and I held her nose shut.

….

**Beatrice:**

As I hear _Diem Ex Dei _playing in my head, I find myself on a dried beach. No ocean in sight, obviously. The clouds were dark with orange and purple. I looked at them and wondered what's going on.

The Earth began to shake violently, as if there were an earthquake. Rocks were falling off a cliff and landed on the sand.

I looked to my right and to my horror; a mega-tsunami was heading in my directions. I was so frightened that I couldn't move. I'm frozen.

Then, someone pulls my hand.

I looked to my left and I saw Roger Rabbit and Tommy. Roger began to lead me and Tommy to the cliff so that we can get to safety. I immediately agreed to the idea of following them and I began to run.

All of the sudden, a loud screeching sound is heard as the mega-tsunami came closer and closer to me, Roger, and Tommy. I looked to the sky and I saw a giant bird with Judge Doom's head. I tried to run as fast I can but the Judge Doom Bird grabbed ahold of me and carried me away from Roger and Tommy.

The Judge Doom Bird, with lightning speed, flew over the mega-tsunami and I heard thunder rumbling in the sky.

Then, I saw lightning flashing in the sky. One of the lightning bolts struck me on my back and I am dropped in to the ocean. I was shocked one last time, with my life flashing before my eyes, and I landed in the ocean.

As everything was fading to darkness, I float around in the water without having the idea to swim out of the water.


	24. Chapter 16 part one

**Chapter Sixteen part one**

**(Hey, y'all!**

**I'll get to work on the cross-over as soon as I get caught up with this story.**

**Enjoy the story and life as it goes! ;-)**

**-imaginarytoon1)**

**Beatrice:**

I heard my heart pumping and I noticed that I was lying flat on my back. Am I awake in the real world? Am I back in my room or in the living room with a sewing needle and puppet in my hand? I struggled to open my eyes a little bit. As my eyelids began to cooperate, my vision was blurry. I blinked a couple of times and many things that were far away from me looked blurry. I made a mental reminder to ask Mom to take me to the eye doctor.

After glancing around with my peripheral vision, I groaned in frustration…in my head. I was stuck in the dream world. I'm in the room where I made a deal with Psycho. I still have to complete the challenge and get myself and Lexi away from the Toon Patrol.

Just in case if I bumped my head too hard (I probably did or didn't…I don't know), I began to recall the things that I heard and experienced before I blacked out:

I walked into the woods to find a tennis ball, due to a challenge…..I built a dummy out of random pieces of litter and junk…..I got stuck on a tree branch and the Toon Patrol found me….The Toon Patrol tried many ways to get me off the tree branch and failed epically….I get help from a silly toon firefly and a star…The firefly gave me the tennis ball….I disguised myself as a rock after rolling around in mud, dirt and grass….I eavesdropped on the Toon Patrol and they talked about getting inside my mind and making me sleepwalk to Toon Town….I ran away from the Toon Patrol….I get caught in a hidden trap and I escaped again…I attempted to climb up a tree but a rock-and-land slide stopped me…...I ran from flying rocks and falling trees…..I jumped in to a river…..Smarty did something to make the river freeze…and I blacked out after attempting to get out of the river and tried to hold my breath for a while…I had a vision about a bird with Judge Doom's head dropping me in a mega-tsunami.

Yep, that's about it.

But there are still some things that I don't get. One, if I dream about drowning, should I wake up in surprise and find myself safe and sound in my bedroom? And two, how did I get back in the room where I made a deal with Psycho?

Something in green catches my attention and with my eyes, I saw…Greasy's green coat wrapped around the upper half of my body. That would probably answer Question Number Two. Greasy dragged me out of the river and wrapped me around with his coat like it was a blanket. I have a feeling that Greasy isn't doing a good job at remembering the promise that we made while I was in the Los Angeles Hospital. He still thinks of me as his girlfriend, his _muchacha, _and that I 'must be handled like a porcelain doll'.

"_I'd catch a grenade for ya,_

_ Throw my hand on a blade for ya…" _

Why am I suddenly hearing myself singing a song by Bruno Mars?

Quietly, I sat up and I looked to my left. I saw Greasy and Psycho with an old-fashioned movie projector in between them. The film that they are playing was…my long history of dates gone horribly wrong. I'm guessing Greasy dug through my memories and managed to find something like that.

_Why would Greasy look up my history of dates ending in tragedies? _I thought. _That's really personal! I don't want Greasy to look up my previous dates!_

What I said before thinking and guessing that Greasy dug through my memories was true. I have a long history of boys dating me and leaving me with tragic results. Since I was fourteen, I was considered the most popular choice for the boys in school. I still remember their names and how they stopped hanging out with me.

Boys at school dated me because of how smart I am and how I'm good at playing piano. They take advantage of me and whenever a boy goes too far, then that's when I have to say that I can't be with them anymore if they don't stop what they're doing to me.

Right now, Greasy and Psycho are looking up on my date with a boy named Charles Stewart. After I told him that things were going to work out (he tried to make me do bad things), Charles got all mad at me and he punched me in the chest and stomach. In defense, I punched Charles in the mouth. After that interaction, I decided that I should never date anyone. Even if that boy was the most popular boy in the school, I wouldn't accept anything from him. You can't always trust boys…they're manipulators and traitors.

Anyway, Greasy turned off the projector and Psycho looked like he was going to cry.

"Why did that boy hit the pretty girly, Greasy?" Psycho asked.

"I don't know but whatever he did, it was really wrong." Greasy replied.

"Is Pretty Girly dead?"

"No, Psycho, she's all right. Remember what happened to her when I performed CPR on her?"

_He did what?! _I thought.

Another excuse for Greasy…performing CPR when he really wanted to kiss me. I wiped my lips with the back of my right hand.

"Let's see how _muchacha _is doing right now." Greasy said.

After Psycho and Greasy turned around, they jumped in surprise when they saw me.

"Oh, you're already awake." Greasy said. "I forgot how quiet you are."

Psycho grinned a big grin and he ran towards me. He hugged me like I just came back from a war alive. I patted Psycho on the back while I hugged him. To tell you the truth, Psycho has a really strong grip.

"All right, all right, Psycho, you can let her go now." Greasy said.

Psycho, sadly, released me and he walked away to another part of the room. Greasy took his coat off of me and he begins to dig through the pockets that were a part of the coat.

"How are you feeling right now?" Greasy asked me.

"Fine, I guess." I said with nervousness.

"That's good."

Okay, this is kind of scary because Greasy doesn't sound like he's convinced on what I just said. I am trying my best to be careful on what I'm saying.

Then, Greasy took out the green apple out of one of the pockets and he looked at me with an unconvinced look on his face. I thought that Greasy was going to forget about the apple.

"This was the apple that I gave you for breakfast this morning. Why did you not eat it?" Greasy asked me.

I looked around the room with nervousness and fear. I wanted to say something but my mouth wouldn't open.

"Did you not eat this apple because you don't like apples?" Greasy asked.

"No, I like apples." I replied.

"Is it because you hate green apples?"

"No, Greasy, I like green apples."

"Well, help me out here. Why did you not eat the apple?"

I pictured a red 'X' on my face in Greasy's book. If I tell him the real reason why I didn't eat the apple, then Greasy will kill me. But if I don't tell him, then Greasy would keep on asking me until I spill everything.

After a brief second on thinking what I should, I decided that I should tell Greasy.

"You're going to kill me for saying this…" I began.

"No, PRETTY GIRLY!" Psycho cried out. "Don't tell him."

That surprised me because I thought that he was going to forget about our secret.

"I have to, Psycho. Greasy, you're going to kill me for saying this but…here it goes." I took a deep breath and a teardrop ran down my eye. "The reason why I didn't eat the apple...is because…you were going to poison me."

Greasy gave me a weird look and then, he began to chuckle.

"Poison you? What are you talking about?" He asked.

"You're going to add me to your list of women that you murdered. You were going make me eat a poisoned apple." I replied.

Greasy stopped chuckling.

"What makes you think that I'm going to poison you?" He asked.

"Don't play games with me, Greasy. I know that you're hiding something." I replied. "Your little book told me everything."

"'Little book'? What book?"

I sighed in frustration. I got off my bed and looked under it. I grabbed the book and made sure that it still had _Las Damas _as the title. It still did.

"This is the book that I'm talking about." I said.

Greasy looked at it with shock.

"Why was that underneath the bed?" He exclaimed.

"I'm not stupid, Greasy. You hid it under this bed yourself." I said.

"No, I didn't. I seriously have no idea on how that book got in this room."

"Obviously, it didn't sprout legs and walked in here."

Then, Greasy grabbed the book and started flipping through the pages. He started to frown after he flipped through half of the book. After all of the pages were flipped, Greasy walked to the door and said,

"Psycho, keep an eye on the _muchacha _for a few minutes."

"Where are you going?" Psycho asked.

"I'm going to have a little talk with Boss."

**(To be continued….)**


	25. Chapter 16 part two

**Chapter Sixteen part two**

**(I was in a rush to upload the first part of the chapter the other morning. I even fell asleep as I started to write the first part. Geez, I hate that. I hate it when I fall asleep when I'm working on a chapter.**

**By the way, I am going to another overnight athletics trip because apparently, during our regionals tournament (My team won first place!) last week, a coach was watching our team and he said that we played so well that he's invited my team to a state tournament this weekend. The hotel that I'm going to might not have good WiFi but I'll try to figure out a way to upload the chapters.**

**So anyway, here is the second part of the chapter.**

**Enjoy the story and life as it goes!**

**-imaginarytoon1)**

**Beatrice:**

As I heard Greasy's stomping footsteps fade away as he walked down the hall outside of my room, two words popped into my head: "I'm dead". Voice Numbers One and Two began to fight inside my head and at first; I tried to look on the bright side. Unfortunately, I didn't see any good in this situation.

"Pretty Girly, why did you tell Greasy?" Psycho asked.

"I didn't want to tell Greasy, Psycho. Everything just slipped out of my mouth." I replied. "Now that I am talking more often, it's a little hard for me to not talk about certain things that aren't meant to be talked about."

I deeply regret the idea of telling Greasy about his book and how he tried to poison me by giving me a green apple. For some reason, I feel like I'm in a scene from _Snow White and the Seven Dwarves._ If you're not familiar with that scene, I'll say that it's the scene when the Evil Queen, disguised as an old lady, tempts Snow White to eat a poisoned apple (I probably digressed so I'm going back to the story.).

"What do you mean by 'certain things that aren't meant to be talked about', Pretty Girly?" Psycho asked.

"It's just as I said, Psycho." I replied. "There are things aren't meant to be talked about. Like if someone knew something that meant trouble, they want to talk about it but someone else decides that it's best to not talk about it at all, in case that if it were discussed, then things would get worse. Even discoveries can be bad news to some or most people."

Psycho, with interest, crawled towards me and the bed. Like a dog, he leaps on to the bed. Then, Psycho sits up and crosses his leg like a kindergartener during story time. I can tell that he's interested. This is what I get for being smart and being a bookworm. Those two things are like a headache that won't go away.

"What kind of discoveries were bad to discover?" Psycho asked.

_Man, he's got a lot of questions to ask. _I thought.

"Well, um…" I said and began to think of something from my old history class. "Have you ever heard of Upton Sinclair's _The Jungle?" _

Psycho thinks over my question and then, he shook his head.

"Well," I began. "during the times when people were moving in to the cities because of job opportunities, the most common place, I believe, to work at were factories. The meat-packing industry was also pretty big at those times but one man, Upton Sinclair, discovered many things that weren't right in the factory. A couple of those things were if a dead rat was found in the factory, it'll automatically go inside the processed meat and if someone forgot to wash their hands after handling dirty work, the foods that were being processed get contaminated."

Psycho wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"But a solution was made after the consumers of the meat discovered the hazards of the meat-packing industry. Inspections were made and the working conditions began to improve. Consumers never began to worry about the hazards again."

Then, Psycho smiled and giggled a short 'HEE, HEE'.

"But what I just said isn't really important now. I have to face the fact that Greasy is coming back here any minute and he'll probably kill me somehow. I'm doomed." I said.

Psycho, while looking down, began to have a sad look on his face.

I looked at the door and then, I looked at the window. Slowly, I got off the bed and looked out of the window and aimed my eyes at the circus cage. I squinted and watched for any signs of movement. I began to aim my eyes at the floor of the circus cage. Lexi was lying there. I wasn't sure if she was lying down in starvation or if she's asleep while wrapping herself around with a blanket made out of burlap sacks.

"Just hang on, Lexi." I said. "I'm almost done with the challenge."

I heard Psycho walk over to me and he, too, looked out of the window. I felt him hold my hand in respect (I knew that he was doing that in respect because I remember doing something like that to my dad when he was standing in front of his mother's grave after she died.).

Then, I heard the door opening up.

Psycho and I looked back and watched…Greasy opening up the door and walk in the room and he looks like he walked out of a casino with no fat wads of dollar bills in his pocket. The frown on his face tells me that things are going to get series. My skin begins to feel like I walked into a giant freezer without a coat and pants and my palms began to sweat. Those two feelings, my friend, are my definitions of feeling scared.

"Psycho, get out of the room. I would like to be alone with the _muchacha._" Greasy said with seriousness. And then, he told me to sit down on the bed.

As Albert Marrin (I can't remember if he was a poet or a writer) said, "Words have consequences." I can tell that there is about to be a whole lot of consequences coming up.

Psycho, although he didn't want to leave me, leaves the room with a blank but worried look on his face. After he left, Greasy walked over to the door and locked it. While I walked to the bed and sat down, Greasy puts the key in his right trouser pocket and then, he looked at me with a frightening crossed look on his face. That was the same look that Mom gave me after she caught me watching _Who Framed Roger Rabbit _for the first time.

"Boss told me everything." Greasy said.

With nervousness present in my voice, I asked, "What did he say?"

"He said that he didn't want me to near you. He was afraid that I was going to distract you during the challenge. After remembering how your curiosity about our hyena cousins overpowered you, Boss took my book and he hid it underneath the bed. He figured that if you looked through the book, you would've been so scared that you wouldn't even go near me. When I found the apple in the woods, I had no idea why you didn't eat it until you told me."

I glanced at something in the room to my right and I sighed.

"I didn't want to tell you in the first place." I said.

"Why not? I could've told you about the book and then, say no more about it." Greasy replied.

I shook my head in doubt.

"You don't trust me." Greasy said in a tone like he's reading my mind.

"If I told you about the book or what I thought about the apple, then you wouldn't believe _me _and you would've slapped me on the cheek or think of another cruel way to kill me."

"I wouldn't slap you."

Greasy walks over to me and sits down on my left.

"You slapped me in the hospital after I told you about Doom going to dip you after completing his freeway." I reminded.

All of the sudden, Greasy grabbed my arms and made me look at him in his eyes.

"I slapped you because I didn't stop to control my actions." He said. "Ever since I did that, I deeply regretted the way I reacted and after I got out of jail, I decided that I should be responsible for my actions and I'm doing a whole lot better because of my responsibility of my actions."

"But did you really kill the women that were in your book?" I asked.

Then, in my head, a little person in my head shouts 'WHAT' after I heard Greasy say to me, "Yes, I did." After he said that, my eyes grew to the size of plums.

"There's no way that you can get away with at least sixty or seventy murders." I said.

"Like I said, _muchacha, _I did kill the women that were mentioned in my book. But that was a long time ago. Before I joined the Toon Patrol, I was in a mafia group in El Paso. I was considered as the best person to get away with murder after persuading a woman and leading them into a trap. When suspicions were beginning to rise, I left the mafia and took the book with me. After moving to Nevada, I decided to do more killing. I also chose to do the killing without any help from anyone. The first few women that I wanted to kill immediately came to me after remembering the times of being harassed by a group of girls in high school. After figuring out that the girls are in their separate places, I went to those places. During each encounter of the girls from high school, I began to start a routine. I would bring up what sort of thing that each girl from the group did to me, the particular girl would laugh it off, and I would pretend that the past was behind me. That's the routine. After the girls became my 'friends', I still had the urge to kill. I created a plan to wipe them out all at once…by adding arsenic in their drinks. After the deaths, nobody suspected that I killed them and the desire of killing women overpowered me. Whenever I would date a woman, I would kill her and move on to another. After every murder, I would get a picture of the woman that I've murdered and put them in the book. Even when the suspicions were rising, I still got away with the murders. But when I came across a girl who looked and acted a lot like you, I tried to stop murdering women."

I got to point of that.

"But the habit of killing women was so strong that you went right on ahead and killed the girl." I said.

_It's kind of like trying to give up smoking. _I thought. _But the 'pleasures' from that are so strong and addictive and it makes it hard to quit._

Greasy nodded.

"_Si_, I killed her. After seeing the girl lying down on the floor of her kitchen next to a broken glass, I sat next her, raking my fingers through her hair and I muttered '_Dios mío, ¿qué he hecho? ¿Qué he hecho?' _multiple times. I said, 'My gosh, what have I done? What have I done?' I even tried to forget about the murders that I committed but as days passed, I felt like I was carrying the world on my shoulders. Finally, I called the police and turned myself in. After my time in jail, I decided to join the Toon Patrol. It wasn't my first decision but it was either that or stay in jail for the rest of my life."

I was stunned.

"You really went through a lot." I said.

Then, Greasy releases me and takes something out of his pocket. It was a little box that was big enough to hold wedding ring. Greasy handed the little box and I opened it. Inside the box was a black and white picture of a girl.

"Is that the last girl you murdered?" I asked.

"That's her." Greasy replied.

After giving the box back to Greasy, I asked,

"But what did I do in the Acme Factory that made you fall in love with me?"

Greasy grabbed my arms again and I looked at him in the eyes.

"As soon as I saw you looking around in the Acme Factory, I was immediately reminded of the last girl that I murdered." Greasy said. "After leaving the Acme Factory and during our interactions throughout the murder of Marvin Acme, I thought of everything about you. Then after you left and when I had to go to jail with the other members of the Toon Patrol, I went back to my book and I tried to write down some details about you. I couldn't think of anything until I got out of jail. 'She's mean a lot to me.' That's what I thought. 'She's not like other girls…smart…play the piano very, very well, and…she's always taking risks.' They were the only thoughts that I thought of. As I saw you taking risks in the challenge, I was afraid that you were going to hurt yourself or die. If I were Boss, then I wouldn't make you do dangerous things."

"I've been taking risks for a long time and I'm used to all of the things that happen afterward, whether they were good or bad." I said. "I said no to things that weren't good for me, I climbed a tree without an adult supervisor, and I even called the police to stop a serial killer from hurting my parents and Tommy. I still have the bruises on my back after I was beaten by certain people. Even if I was a part of a challenge like this so that I can help a relative, then I would risk my life to get them to safety."

"You don't have to be very extreme to help someone get out of something. You mean a lot to me and I don't want you to hurt yourself in order to help someone."

I aimed my eyes on the floor in an embarrassed but flattered matter. I even feel my cheeks burning.

_So Greasy does care about me. _I thought. _Although I am flattered, I still like him as friend and really nothing else. I seriously don't have a crush on him. Greasy's a friend, not a date._

It's been a really long time since a boy told me about how he thinks of me. It felt like it was too long and it feels like going on your first date. The guy that you like begins to talk about you a lot and what he thinks. He tells you the things that—Gosh, why am I saying this? Romance is mushy and pretty much a lie! The guys who have dated me the past never truly liked me. They took advantage of me and even use me to make the girls that they dated with previously jealous! One guy even made up a rule that didn't apply to me. As I said before, ROMANCE IS A LIE! There will never be a Prince Charming for me. I will never be the right girl for the right guy. I am in a world full of lies! There is no Prince Charming.

"_Muchacha, _are you okay?" Greasy asked me.

As soon as I aimed my eyes at Greasy, I felt my eyes getting itched with salt and a teardrop running down my face and I wasn't even thinking about crying my feelings. I wanted to keep them bottled up and cry somewhere else…some place where no one would walk in on me and ask me if anything is wrong.

"I'm fine." I said as two more teardrops ran down my face. I wiped them away and tried to not cry anymore. "I shouldn't be emotional at this moment. I don't usually cry about something about this. I'm not sad about anything, I assure you."

Then, Greasy puts his hands on my shoulders.

In a serious tone, almost sounding like my dad in some situations, Greasy said, "You _are _sad of something, _muchacha. _It's too obvious."

I sighed in frustration and rolled my eyes.

"All right, I'll admit it." I said with my voice shaking. "I am sad about something but I don't want to talk about it."

I looked away from Greasy. Instead of getting off the bed and leaving me alone, he wraps his arms around my body and began to hug me. Then, a stream of tears began to run down from my eyes and I stared to breathe like I'm hyperventilating as Greasy was patting his hand on my back and then, he puts his hand on the back of head.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's okay." Greasy said. "Just let it all out, _muchacha. _Let it all out."

Why do I have a reason to cry? I usually don't worry about romance or finding a date. I don't see any good in romance if someone tries to make your life miserable—Oh, here I go again, rambling about something that I don't normally think about.

"You can't hide your feelings all the time, _muchacha._" Greasy said. "If you keep doing that, you'll feel like the whole world is on your shoulders." I think that's what Roger Rabbit said to me. "You need to let them out instead of keeping them bottled up."

"I can't help it." I replied while I try to settle down. "I am still trying my best to talk to people and try to stick up for myself. It still isn't easy for me to expose my true feelings about something or someone."

"I know but you still have to try."

"I try my very best at everything."

"I know that you do."

This was something that I would never expect from Greasy. I never expected him to hug me. What's next after hugging?

"I want you to listen to me, _muchacha._ Are you listening to me?" Greasy whispered in my ear.

As my sadness was slowly faded away, I said, "Yeah, I'm listening."

"I'm not a murderer anymore and I would never do anything that could hurt you or put you in danger. I want you to finish the last part of the challenge and get your cousin back home. You don't have much time. Since you probably know that you're in a dream, I want to give you a warning. If you don't finish the last part of the challenge and get back to the real world before the midnight hour, then you'll be in Toon Town. It's nine-fifty five in the evening and you need to tell Boss that you're ready to move on to the challenge."

Then, Greasy stops hugging me and looks at me with a not-so-series look on his face.

"You think that you can handle that?" He asked.

With a determined smile, "Yeah, I can handle that."


	26. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

**(Hey, y'all. **

**How's life for you?**

**Good? That's cool. **

"**Ehh"? I would probably say the same.**

**Bad? Things would get better.**

**Horrible? Keep calm, take a few deep breaths, watch a funny video, and read FanFiction.**

**Anyway, the hotel that I'm staying in right now has a good WiFi signal so here is the chapter that you're waiting for.**

**Enjoy life as it goes!**

**-imaginarytoon1**

**PS: Heads up: In this chapter, a clown makes an appearance and if you're afraid of clowns, then you might want to skip to the end of the chapter.)**

**Beatrice:**

Greasy and I walked out of the room and down to the first floor. As we walked down the staircase, Psycho joined us.

"Hey, _muchacha._" Greasy said. "What should we do if Boss asks us about what happened just a second ago?"

"Pretend that it didn't happen. Just tell him that you were having some time to yourself after your talk with him. After that, say to Smarty that after you had some time to yourself, you remembered about the challenge and you came to the room to come and get me. Smarty wants us to come to the meeting room, right?"

Greasy pauses for a few seconds.

"_Si, _and about what you said about talking to Boss, I did talk to him but I also…um…" He began.

I stopped walking and looked at Greasy.

"What did you do?" I asked.

Greasy looks at me and Psycho and I watch him in surprise when he pounds his fist in to his palm.

"You punched him?" I asked.

"I punched him because I was angry with him. After Boss told me about scaring you by using the book, Wheezy separated us and I came back to you after that." Greasy replied. "I know that I told you that I was going to control my actions but that was-"

"Greasy, if you punched Smarty because you were standing up for me for a good reason, then it's okay. Think twice about it and decide if punching someone is for a good reason. What you did is okay but I want you to keep in mind on what I just said."

"I'll remember."

I looked at Psycho.

"Are you going to remember that, too, Psycho?" I asked.

Psycho smiled, closed his eyes, and nodded.

"All right." I said.

Just as I was about to walk to the meeting room, Greasy stopped me.

"I just realized something else." He said.

"What is that?" Psycho and I asked in unison.

"What if Boss asks you about if you knew anything about all of this being a dream?"

"I'll pretend that I don't know anything about it. I heard you and the other weasels talk about this dream while I disguised myself as a rock on that hillside and I'm fully aware of it. Like I said, I'll tell Smarty that I don't know anything about this whole thing being a dream." I said.

"All right." Greasy said.

When Greasy, Psycho, and I went back to walking, I said to them, "Normally, I don't choose to lie to someone. I only lie if it's for a good reason. Like right now, I have a good reason to lie so that Smarty would stop me because I know too much."

As we got closer to the meeting room, I told Greasy and Psycho to pretend that we didn't say anything before we arrived. When we entered the room, we found the other weasels sitting in their original seats and doing their own thing. Smarty, with his pink hat really wrinkled and torn, Wheezy, with six cigarettes burning in his mouth, gave me a cold, hard, angry stare; Flasher was tapping his fingers on the table, Slimy had an evil smug on his face (he was also looking at me), and Stupid…wasn't really doing anything. Smarty glared at Psycho, Greasy, and me. Well, he glared at me the most.

With a determined and serious look on my face, I said to Smarty, "I'm ready for the next part of the challenge."

"Have a seat, Birchwood." Smarty said.

I exchanged glances with Greasy and Psycho. They both nodded their heads and we sat down on the chairs that were left for the three of us.

"Before we start, I want to tell you that you lost one of your three 'Kansas'." Smarty said.

"I think you mean 'chances'." I corrected.

"Boss, don't you remember when we trapped Birchwood under the ice and we found the ball in her hand? She still has all three chances." Wheezy said to Smarty after blowing out a cloud of smoke.

I'm not sure if that's right. If Smarty or any of the weasels catch me in the woods, even with the tennis ball in my hand, then I lose one of my three chances.

"To make things run smoothly for now, I'm okay with losing one of my chances." I said to Wheezy.

He looked at me and blew another cloud of smoke.

"Really?" Wheezy asked me.

"It is what it is sometimes." I shrugged. "I'm okay with losing one of my three chances."

Wheezy shrugged and muttered, "All right."

Then, Smarty reaches down on the floor and brings up…a ladle…and…a container of cinnamon.

I pushed away from the table in terror. Unfortunately, I pushed away too hard and my chair falls back. I lied down on the chair in a paralyzed-in-fear state and my wide-eyed expression was pasted on my face. I heard every weasel, except Greasy and Psycho, laughing really hard.

Greasy asked me if I was all right but I couldn't answer because I was too scared to say anything. I was staring at the ceiling for a little bit until…Pennywise the Dancing Clown's head appears on the ceiling before my eyes.

"HELLOOO…Beatrice!" He exclaimed to me with an evil, yellow-toothed smile.

Then, Pennywise slithers out of the ceiling and stands on the table.

"Birchwood, meet…" Smarty began.

"I know who it is!" I interrupted and stood up. "PENNYWISE THE DANCING CLOWN!"

"EXACTLY!" Pennywise exclaimed.

In case if you're wondering, Pennywise the Dancing Clown was the main villain of a Stephen King book called _It. _Obviously, he's a clown and he acts like Freddy Kruger a little bit. He scares children…and maybe some adults…by going into their minds and haunting them with their most dreaded fears. Pennywise is also one of my most dreaded fears but other clowns…I'm not afraid of them. Pennywise is an exception.

Anyway, Pennywise picks up the container of cinnamon and dumps an enormous amount of it in the ladle. I quickly covered my nose and watched Pennywise dump the cinnamon in to his mouth. He blows out a huge cloud of cinnamon as Smarty says,

"What I was going to say is this: Meet Armageddon. He looks like the person who you call 'Pennywise' but there's more. He has a clown body, eyes like Judge Doom, acts like 'Bready Cougar' (Freddy Kruger), and he's a combination of some of your worst fears."

"And Armageddon is going to participate in this part of the challenge." Wheezy said.

"And why is he involved?" I asked nervously.

Smarty, with an evil grin, asked me, "Do you like scary movies?"

"No." I said.

"Do you like to read survival 'guys'?"

"It depends on the topic, yes."

"Have you ever read anything about surviving a horror movie?"

I thought about it and then, I nodded my head.

"This is what the challenge is going to be." Wheezy said. "We're going to see if you can survive a horror movie and outsmart Armageddon. We're going back outside because that's where the starting point is located. As you do this part of the challenge, we're giving you a fifteen minute timer. You're trying to avoid Armageddon as long as possible. If he catches you, you'll lose another one of your chances and move on to the last part of the challenge."

"Do you think that you can handle this part of the challenge, Birchwood?" Smarty asked.

I looked at Greasy and a look on his face tells me that I shouldn't accept this part the challenge. I sighed and looked back at Smarty.

"I can handle this part of the challenge, Smarty. I came to finish this challenge and bring Lexi back home. I'm not doing this for myself. I'm doing this for my little cousin." I said.

"All right, Birchwood." Smarty said. "But before we start, I'm going to leave you alone with Greasy for five 'millets'. He probably might want to say his last words to you."

Everyone, but Greasy and I, left the room. After the door closes, Greasy grabbed me by my arms.

"You're taking another life-threatening risk, _muchacha._" He said. "You're really going to get yourself killed!"

"There is no other way to get Lexi out of this!" I exclaimed. "The only way to get her out of this is to finish the challenge! I have to take this risk!"

"No, you can't. Don't you remember our conversation a few minutes ago? I said that I wasn't going to let anything hurt or kill you."

I rolled my eyes and I made Greasy take his hands off my arms. I looked at him with a series look on my face.

"Greasy, you have to listen to me." I said, almost repeating the same thing that Greasy said to me in the room from the second floor. "Are you listening?"

He nodded.

"In times like this, there are no such things as promises because they always come and go." I explained. "You said that you're not going to let anything hurt me and you have to accept the fact that I have to take risks in order for me to finish this challenge. If I don't take risks, then I'll lose the challenge and I'll never see Lexi again. I don't want you to worry about me because I really finish this challenge and take Lexi back home."

Greasy looks at me with concern and worry and I can tell that he really doesn't want me to take that risk.

"You have to trust me, Greasy. I know that I didn't trust you from the beginning but…that's going to change. We have to trust each other now. I haven't thought of a plan and in order for this to work, we're going to have to cooperate in secret. Smarty must never know about this and I'm counting on you to help me out on this one."

Greasy thinks over on what I just said and as he is about to say something, Smarty shouts, "Three 'millets', you two!" After he left, Greasy sighed.

"Do you really have to take this risk?" He asked.

"I have to, Greasy. It's the only way to finish this challenge." I replied.

Then, there's a brief pause.

"All right," Greasy said. "I'll help you out on this one and I want you to be-."

"Very careful?" I finished.

"_Si."_

"I'll try my very best."

"All right, let's get to work on this."

_Hang on, Lexi. _I thought. _I'm almost done. Just hold on for a few more minutes._

Even though, in real life (I think), Lexi is doing all right, I act like Lexi is really in danger, even if this is all a dream. But still, I want this to be remembered and even teach Lexi about taking risks. This is something that is meant to be remembered and taught, instead of forgotten.


	27. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

**(Hey, y'all.**

**I just got back from my athletics trip and everything is kind of running smoothly.**

**If any of you were scared of the clown from the previous chapter, I'm sorry. I try not to add any more clowns from now on.**

**So anyway, here is the eighteenth chapter.**

**Enjoy the story and life as it goes!**

**-imaginarytoon1**

**PS: The next upcoming story is going to be both a Thanksgiving and Christmas Special. This is just a heads-up.)**

**Beatrice:**

As Greasy and I walk out of the house, Greasy asked me,

"Is it true that you don't like horror movies?"

"What I said about horror movies was true. I don't like them." I replied. "Well, it's not the plots or the villains that I'm afraid of. It's the violence and gore. I can't stand violence and I'm afraid that I might turn into a person who can commit acts of violence."

"If you say that you don't like horror movies, then why do you read stuff about trying to survive in them? Horror movies, I mean."

"It kind of began when I was about eight or ten years old. I was about to watch my first horror movie and thanks to my dad, he made me read a book at least as thick as three ice cubes and it talked about surviving a horror movie. I knew that everything that happens in a horror can't really happen in real life and when I told my dad that, he said that he just wanted me to remember in case if some part of my life was like a horror movie."

"What was your first horror movie?"

"My first horror movie was _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde._"

"Wasn't that about a man who digs in the graveyard and creates a monster from different parts?"

"No, that's _Frankenstein._ _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde _is a movie about a man who transforms into a monster after drinking something."

"Oh, yeah."

Then, there's a brief pause.

"_Muchacha, _how fast can you build things?" Greasy asked.

"Depending on the object, I can build things pretty fast. Like that decoy in the woods, it took me either six or ten minutes to build it." I replied. "Why? Are you on to something?"

"In fact, I am."

"Well, tell me what you're thinking."

Greasy looks around the area for a brief second and then, he says,

"I'm going to distract Armageddon while you try to build a decoy of yourself. Since I was completely fooled by your other decoy, I thought that your skill of making decoys is exceptionally well for a person like you. I think that in this part of challenge, your skill of making decoys can be a useful tool."

"So you're saying that you'll try to keep Armageddon occupied by your distractions while I make a decoy." I said.

"Yes, that's what I'm saying."

"Greasy, that's a really good idea! I think that it can work! What kind of distractions can you do?"

"I'm good at shadow puppets and noises."

"Show me one of your shadow puppets."

Then, Greasy quickly makes a shadow puppet version of me on the wall. I don't have any idea on how he can do that but I have to say, the shadow puppet looked really convincing.

"That looks really good." I said.

"In that horror movie survival guide that you were talking about earlier, did it say anything about getting trapped on another floor of a building?" Greasy asked.

"Yes. In a horror movie, if you're in a building with more than one floor, never run upstairs and hide in a room on the floor above the first. If you do, then you're trapped with the killer. And never take a shower if you're a horror movie. There's a big chance of getting killed."

"All right. So the plan is that I'll distract Armageddon long enough for you to build a decoy and take it up to the shower on the second floor. How does that sound, _muchacha?"_

I thought over the plan pretty quickly and I smiled at the plan.

"Greasy, that's a perfect plan! I knew that we could come up with something." I exclaimed.

As Greasy and I got closer and closer to the main entrance of the house, we immediately acted like we didn't have our conversation and stepped outside.

Armageddon, Smarty and the other weasels (except for Psycho) were looking at me and Greasy with looks of impatience. In front of an impatient Wheezy, who's not smoking his cigarettes, was a nervous Lexi. Wheezy's hands were on Lexi's shoulders and I don't think that Lexi liked the sight of Wheezy's hands and the smell of burning cigarettes that lingered on his clothes. I even noticed that there was another weasel in the group. He wore a green shirt, blue pants with suspenders attached to it, and a newsboy cap that matched his pants. The new member, along with Psycho, didn't look impatient.

"Greasy, what took you so long?!" Smarty exclaimed angrily.

"We gave you five minutes!" Wheezy said.

"It's not Greasy's fault, Smarty." I said. "It's my fault. I gave Greasy a really long lecture and it took me a little longer than I expected."

"Is that true, Greasy?" Smarty snapped.

"It's true." Greasy replied, completely playing along with my lie. I'm only going to say this once: I don't have a crush on Greasy. I didn't want him to get in trouble and friends don't turn their backs on each other.

"Are you ready, Birchwood?" Smarty asked.

"Yes, Smarty." I replied.

Greasy walked away from me and stood in between Psycho and the weasel who was new to the group. I guess that he (Greasy) wanted to wait for the right moment to begin his distractions.

"Before we begin," Wheezy said, "Armageddon is going inside the house first and he's going to pick his starting point."

Armageddon flashes an evil grin at me and walks inside the house.

"I bet that Armageddon is going to find a hiding spot faster than you can spell 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'." Flasher said.

Then, while Psycho, Smarty, and Stupid struggle to spell that really long word, I looked at Lexi and in her language, I asked her,

**How are you doing?**

** I'm fine, I guess. **Lexi replied. **How about you?**

** I'm okay. I'm almost done with the challenge. I'm getting us away from here. Just hold on for a few more minutes.**

"Hey, Birchwood, I can bet that you CAN'T 'spill' that long word." Smarty said to me.

"Boss, I wouldn't say that if I were you." Greasy said and gave me a sly smile. "_Muchacha _can definitely spell that word."

**Hold that thought, Lexi. **I said.

"Oh, I can definitely spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." I told Smarty.

"Prove it." Smarty and Wheezy said in unison.

All of the weasels watch me as I spell:

"S-U-P-E-R-C-A-L-I-F-R-A-G-I-L…" I rubbed my fingernails from my left hand on my right shirt sleeve and blew on them. "…I-S-T-I-C-E-X-P-I-A-L-I-D-O-C-I-O-U-S." I chuckled. "That was way too easy."

Smarty, Wheezy, Flasher, and Slimy groaned in frustration.

"Birchwood is just too smart, Boss." Wheezy said.

"Yeah." Slimy said.

"That's enough testing her." Flasher said.

"And Armageddon's ready. Are you ready, Birchwood?" Smarty asked.

I looked at Lexi and surprising me and the weasels, she said,

"Good luck, Beatrice."

I nodded at her and I told Smarty that I'm ready.

Then, after a brief pause, Smarty says,

"The fifteen 'millets' begin now and…you may begin."

I ran into the house with an abrupt take off.

I disobeyed one of the rules on surviving a horror movie: If you're lost, stranded, or in a dare contest with your friends, NEVER EVER GO INSIDE A HAUNTED HOUSE.

_But I'm a challenge and in times like this, I sometimes have to step out of my comfort zone and break the laws of surviving a horror movie. _I thought.

Because of Armageddon eating a lot of cinnamon in the meeting room, I can smell cinnamon and see small traces of cinnamon as I walked around the first floor.

_I think that in a house like this, the kitchen has many useful objects. _I thought. _I think that I have to go to the kitchen and gather all of the things that can make a good decoy._

The cinnamon smell was growing stronger all of the sudden and to my left, I saw Armageddon's shadow growing larger and larger on the wall of the hallway. I knew that it was him because I heard Armageddon laughing evilly.

Then, behind Armageddon's shadow, another shadow takes the shape of a four-fingered hand and it transformed into the shape of my shadow. I heard a smashing noise and I figured that Greasy was doing his part of the plan.

Armageddon chases after Greasy's shadow puppet and I walked down the right side of the hallway.

In front of me was a wooden sign with scratch marks and it said 'KITCHEN'. On the sign, an arrow points to the left. I followed the sign and entered the kitchen.

It was really big inside. The kitchen looked like one of those kitchens from a summer camp. Pots, pans, and cooking tools were hanging above the tables and every single bit of food was organized by what they are, like potatoes go with the potatoes…and so on. The tables, floor, and the stoves were covered with dust and underneath the tables were dust bunnies and a ball of string. I grabbed the string and placed it on one of the tables.

As a weapon in defense, I grabbed a frying pan. I placed it next to the ball of string and looked for a large and empty burlap sack.

_My new decoy will be named 'FYI'_. I thought and picked up a giant burlap sack.

As I looked around the kitchen, I found and picked up some interesting things as I tried not to attract Armageddon. The things that I found were: An old manual drill, ten wooden spoons, a couple of fishing hooks, a butcher knife, a giant pineapple, fast-drying glue, a mop, four door hinges, loose doorknobs, and two bricks. Every object that I found was put in to the burlap sack, even the ball of string and the frying pan.

_That should be enough. _I thought. _But how am I supposed to carry all of this stuff without getting caught by Armageddon? Does this house have any dumbwaiters, hidden doors, or elevators?_

At that moment, I found a dumbwaiter right next to the entrance of the kitchen. Although dumbwaiters aren't really meant for a person, this one was big enough for me and the burlap sack to fit in.

I opened the sliding door and inside the dumbwaiter, there was a rope that dangled from the ceiling of the platform. I'm guessing that I have to pull myself up to the second floor.

I jumped into the dumbwaiter and closed the sliding door as soon as I heard heavy footsteps walking to the kitchen.

_If I make another deal or become a part of a challenge that's created by toon weasels, _I thought, _I better think twice before accepting._

Quickly, I pulled on the rope and the platform begins to move up. I was panting and worrying that Armageddon was going to come in to the kitchen and get me with a knife or paralyze me with his eyes of evil.

_Okay, so not only cinnamon is my worst fear in life but—_ I began to think.

_ BEATRICE! _My dad's voice shouted in my head, interrupting my thought.

_What?! _I thought.

_Beatrice! Settle down! You're going to be all right! _Dad's voice shouted in my head.

_Beatrice! Wake up! WAKE UP! _Tommy's voice shouted in my head.

Then, like I was in a comic strip in a newspaper, a thought bubble began to appear before my eyes. An image begins to display itself in the bubble. I am seeing…Tommy…Dad...and myself…in…where am I? I am in…a hospital room?

_What Birchwood doesn't know is that a neighbor just caught her and her cousin wandering down the street and called the police on her! _Wheezy's voice echoed in the bubble as I saw myself, in the real world acting everything that happened while dreaming. _The police tried to wake her but when they couldn't, Birchwood's cousin tried to tell the officers that Birchwood needed help. Since the officers couldn't understand Birchwood's cousin, they called Birchwood's parents and took Birchwood to the hospital to be stopped. The hospital staff tried to stop Birchwood and twice, Birchwood's father had to shock her with something. Still, Birchwood kept on dreaming. She's got ten minutes or we'll teleport her to Toon Town and bring her brother there after things settle down. Another thing, Boss, is that if Birchwood discovers that impossible things can happen in this dream, then she'll try to wake up and we're out of her mind._

The bubble disappeared and I continued to pull myself up to the second floor. As a door became visible on the wall, I carefully pushed it. My heart began to beat at a fast pace and then, it settled down after I found out that Armageddon was nowhere to be seen.

I slipped out of the dumbwaiter with my bag of decoy materials and I walked down to the last door to the right of the hallway. I tried to not make my footsteps sound real heavy but I walked at a really fast pace.

Carefully, I took out my frying pan and entered the room. I was in an all-white room with muddy footprints, a dirty sink, a bathtub with the curtain opened up, a dangling pipe, and a door that probably led to a closet.

Immediately, I began to construct FYI. For arms and hands, I grabbed four spoons and for two spoons each, I glued a hinge in between them, making the elbows. The hair and head were made out of the pineapple and the stringy bottom of the mop. With the knife, I cut the bottom of the pineapple and started to twist the tip of the knife in the center of the yellow part of the tropical fruit. After I twisted it long enough, I filled the hole of the pineapple with glue with the top part of the broom. I broke off the bottom of the mop and glued on top of the pineapple.

_Oh, I hope that I'm not too late! _I thought.

I grabbed two spoons and glued them at least two inches away from the pineapple. Those spoons were the shoulders.

With the knife, I used it to make the burlap sack look like my T-shirt. I pulled the sack over FYI and 'she' looked very convincing.

I glued the doorknobs on FYI's 'shoulder's and I glued 'her arms' on to them.

_It's been four minutes! _I thought. _I don't have a lot of time!_

Quickly, I created the legs, fixed FYI's 'shirt', glued the bricks on the bottom of FYI's 'legs', drilled in a couple of holes in FYI's 'hands', added a couple of drops of glue on the hooks, and tied two long strands of string on to the hooks.

_FYI is completed and let's make her look like she's taking a shower. _I thought.

FYI and I broke another rule on surviving in a horror movie: Never take a shower at night. That has 'death' written all over. How do I know? The bathroom scene from Alfred Hitchcock's _Psycho _has the answer.

I threw the ball of string over the dangling pipe and pulled in FYI. Thank goodness that the string that I'm using is that type of string that looks invisible from a good distance.

Before moving on with the plan, I checked to see if there was no one in the closet of the bathroom. Thankfully, no one was in the closet.

To catch Armageddon's attention, I walked around with heavy footsteps and turned on the shower. I closed the curtain, grabbed the frying pan, and hid in the closet.

_Four minutes left. _I thought.

I didn't have to wait too long because I heard Armageddon coming and I got my frying pan ready.

Then, I heard the door open and then, Armageddon screaming in pure evil murder. The sound of the curtain opening up was my signal to run out of the closet.

While Armageddon occupied himself with FYI, I burst out of the closet and with a war-like 'AAAAAAAAGGGGGH', I began to beat Armageddon on the back of his head with a frying pan. I beat him five times on the back of his head until, like a Toon, cracks were becoming visible and Armageddon breaks into a million pieces and gets washed down the drain.

I panted with terror and fear and I turned off the shower.

_Armageddon…is dead. _I thought.

"_Muchacha, _are you doing all right?" Greasy called from outside of the room.

"I'm good, Greasy." I replied.

Greasy walked into the bathroom and sighs in relief.

"You're done with this part of the challenge." He said. "Way to go."

"I don't want to beat somebody with a frying pan again." I said and put the frying pan down. "Let's go back and tell Smarty that I'm done."

Greasy went to his own exit as I went down the hall and walked the stairs. I made a reminder that I am never going to beat somebody with a frying pan again. Although no stabbing is or was involved, beating somebody to death is considered an act of violence. I hope that I won't do that again.

After approaching the main entrance of the house, I re-tied my shoes and took a deep breath. I walked out of the house and almost every weasel looked at me with shock. Lexi smiled a small smile at me and Greasy did the same.

"That's-! What happened to Armageddon?!" Smarty exclaimed.

"Armageddon is dead!" I exclaimed as I walked towards Smarty. "He is no longer alive."

"And you passed this part of the challenge." Wheezy said.

"We're going to give you one more, Birchwood." Smarty said. "If you pass this part, then you and your little 'cushion' can go back home. And you know what will happen to you if you lose."

Flasher reaches in to his coat and takes out a blindfold. He hands it to me and Wheezy told me to put on the blindfold. I did what he told me and I wasn't feeling very comfortable.

"What do I have to do in this challenge?" I asked.

"Hold on just a second, Birchwood." Wheezy said.

Then, I heard shuffling and clanging as I waited. After those two noises, I heard the sound of some objects getting put down on a table.

"All right, Birchwood, here is your last test." Wheezy said and exhaled. "There are three kitchen knives on this table in front of you. If you pick the longest knife, then you and your little cousin can go back home. Your cousin goes and you stay if you picket the shortest knife."

Then, there's a pause of anxiety for me.

"You may begin when you're ready." Smarty said.

Immediately, my right hand begins to search for the biggest knife. I didn't want to cut my hand and I slowed down a little bit. I took a deep breath and went back to the challenge.

I grabbed the handle of a knife and picked it up.


	28. Chapter 19 part one

**Chapter Nineteen part one**

**(Hey, y'all!**

**So far, the story is almost done.**

**I know that's not always what you're looking for but **_**The Birchwood Twin(s) **_**series will continue to have adventures of Beatrice, Tommy, the Toon Patrol, and many other characters.**

**So…here is the first part of the nineteenth chapter and enjoy the story and life as it goes! ;-)**

**-imaginarytoon1)**

**Beatrice:**

After I picked up the knife, my heart was beating so fast and I felt like I couldn't breathe. I almost had a heart attack after Wheezy told me to take off the blindfold.

I opened my eyes after the blindfold was untied. I gasped at the sight of the knife and I looked at the knives on the table.

_I did it. _I thought. _I passed the challenge. Now I can wake up and live my life as it goes!_

"Well, Birchwood," Smarty said, "you 'vast' the challenge."

"You and your cousin can go home." Wheezy said.

"No catch?" I asked.

"No catch." Flasher replied.

I gave the weasels a suspicious look and I said, "All right."

Then, I said to Lexi,

**Let's go, Lexi. We're going home.**

"Sleazy will show you the way out of the woods." Greasy said.

I gave Greasy a confused look and he points at the weasel who was new to the group.

_What kind of a name is that?! _I exclaimed in my head.

"C'mon, Birchwood. Let's go." Sleazy said with a mild New York accent. "You and your cousin, come with me."

As I walked towards Sleazy with Lexi, I would glance at Smarty to see if he was going to do anything behind my back. So far, Smarty just stared at me with a small angry look on his face. After looking back at him for the final time, Smarty exclaimed,

"You won the challenge and I'm not going to do anything!"

"Whatever you say." I mumbled and disappeared into the darkness of the woods with Lexi and Sleazy.

I didn't really say anything else while I walked with Lexi and Sleazy. When it got too dark to see, Sleazy took out an old-fashioned flashlight and aimed it at everything that was in front of us.

Lexi tapped her fingers on my left arm and asked me,

**Are the weasels going to see us again?**

I replied,

**No, Lexi. The weasels won't bother us ever again. Once we get home, you get yourself cleaned up and ready for bed. You've been through a lot.**

With a mischievous smile on her face, Lexi asked,

**Who was that weasel in the green shirt, pants, and hat? You were talking to him the most.**

I said,

**That's Greasy.**

** Is he your boyfriend?**

I scoffed.

**No. He's a friend…like FRIEND-friend, not boyfriend.**

** Sure, he is. **Lexi said with her mischievous smile.

I shook my head and chuckled.

Despite of what Lexi had to go through, she still has her sense of humor. I don't know how Lexi handled all of the tough times but she's made it. Now that I've won the challenge, I can take Lexi to the house and wake up in the real world…where the weasels won't bother us every again.

"Well, this is as far as I can go, you two." Sleazy said as we got close to the edge of the woods. "If you know your way back, then go on ahead. Be careful, Birchwood, and have a nice night."

"You, too." I replied.

Then, Sleazy snuck back in to the darkness of the woods and I whistled for Ray.

All of the sudden, a bright yellow light popped out from the top of the trees. Wow, that was really fast!

"Hey, _chere!"_ Ray exclaimed.

"Hey, Ray! It's nice to see you again!" I said.

"I see you got your cousin. You won the challenge, right?"

"Yes, sir. I won the challenge."

"Can you see where you're going?"

"Will it be all right if you give us a little light, Ray?"

"Sure, _chere!" _Ray said.

Ray began to glow a really bright light. In fact he was so bright that it looked like it was in the middle of the day.

As Ray flew in front of me and Lexi, showing us the way as we walked, another thought bubble appeared before my eyes and another image began to display itself inside. I was walking around in a room where there are cushions for walls and Tommy was standing outside of the room with a doctor, I believe.

_Beatrice is doing okay. _The doctor's voice echoed in my head. _She just asked this guy called…um, Ray…to give her and somebody else some light._

_ But where did you put Beatrice? _Tommy's voice also echoed.

_ She's in a room where she can't hurt herself during her random acts of action. Doctor Olsen won't even go near Beatrice because in her sleep, Beatrice acted like she was defending herself from something and she whacked Doctor Olsen with her pillow. She said that Beatrice is really strong and hard with her defensive hits._

That was probably when I whacked Armageddon on the back of his head in the bathroom. I don't want to talk about that once I wake up.

Anyway, the bubble and image faded as Lexi, Ray, and I arrived on the edge of the woods.

**We're almost home, Lexi. **I said. **Just a couple more—**

Then, from my right side, a bright light flashes in my eyes before I can finish on what I was going to say to Lexi.

I looked to my right and ten feet away from me, Ray, and Lexi, a 1940s black police car began to drive towards us.

_The TOON PATROL!_ I thought.

"Lexi, we have to run! Ray, come with us!" I exclaimed.

I crouched down and Lexi climbed on to my back. Immediately, I took off running and the siren from the police car was blaring like crazy.

"STOP IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!" Smarty called out to me.

_NEVER! _I thought.

Turning on corners, knocking down trash cans, and jumping over the curves was certainly no picnic. The Toon Patrol was gaining on me and Lexi and they weren't doing a good job on slowing down while turning on sharp corners. Almost every time that the Toon Patrol would turn on a corner, the car would hit a mail box.

As I got closer to my house, I decided to do a loop-di-loop around a small neighborhood so that the Toon Patrol can lose track of me, Lexi, and Ray.

I was getting a little tired because of how I have to stop every few minutes and let Lexi climb back on my back, due to slipping little by little.

Then, with Lexi still on my back, I took off running and the Toon Patrol's car suddenly stopped working after running into another mailbox.

Thankfully, when I arrived at my house, the front door was unlocked. Lexi slipped off my back and I opened the door.

Ray had followed us throughout the crazy chase and he was still glowing a bright color.

"Ray, turn down your light." I said after closing the door and locking it.

Ray's light goes from really bright to slightly dim as I turned off the other lights around the house.

"_Chere, _why are you turning off the lights?" Ray asked.

"I'm making myself and Lexi hard to find." I replied. "Thanks to a drill at my school, I'll make myself and Lexi hard to find by turning off the lights around the house and hiding in a specific bedroom where the Toon Patrol won't find us."

I took Lexi to my parents' bedroom and I opened the closet door. I found a big laundry basket that was big enough to hold a person as small as Lexi and I figured that Lexi would have to hide in that.

**Lexi, I want you to stay in this basket. **I said to Lexi. **Don't ever come out until I come back for you. Stay hidden and quiet.**

Then, I heard a loud crashing noise. I'm talking about a window getting smashed to bits…

** (To be continued.)**


	29. Chapter 19 part two

**Chapter Nineteen part two**

**(Hey, y'all!**

**I really hate to say this but…it's almost to the end of the story.**

**But don't worry! There will be more stories after this!**

**Anyway, here is the second part of chapter nineteen!**

**Enjoy the story and life as it goes!**

**-imaginarytoon1**

**PS: Try out the **_**Who Framed Roger Rabbit **_**Forum if you can.)**

**Beatrice:**

After telling Lexi one last time to stay hidden in the laundry basket and closing the lid, Ray and I got out the closet really carefully.

"_Chere, _I'll distract the weasels and you run!" Ray whispered. "Evangeline and I would still help you out."

"Be careful, Ray." I whispered back.

Then, Ray flew away and as the first one minute and six seconds of _Sweet Dreams _(by Emily Browning) began to play in my head, I slipped out of my parents' bedroom. Things were awfully quiet.

_I think it's time to play the cat-and-mouse game. _I thought. _Lexi shouldn't be chased around by the Toon Patrol. I'm going to play the mouse from now on. It's ten-forty nine at night. To go into the city, it would usually take me and my family five minutes but if we have to go the hospital, it would take us thirty minutes, depending on traffic. This is what I'm going to do. _I continued to think. _The Toon Patrol and I would play the cat-and-mouse game, then I'll take a shortcut, make the Toon Patrol lose track of me, run to the hospital, and if I can make it, I'll wake up. After that, the Toon Patrol would never bother me or Tommy again._

I was really close to the front door when I noticed something weird about the living room. It was Tommy's paintball gun. It wasn't on the spot where I dropped it on the living room floor. I'm guessing that one of the weasels picked it up after breaking into the house.

Unfortunately, there's no time for me—

All of the sudden, I began to smell smoke. Cigarette—Uh oh.

"You got guts, Birchwood." Wheezy said to me.

_Sweet Dreams _faded into silence and _Abraham's Daughter _began to play in my head after I abruptly turned to Wheezy and we began to walk in a circle, as if we were in a boxing ring.

Immediately after ten seconds of staring and walking in a circle, Wheezy pulled out his tommy gun out of thin air. I ducked down after he pulled the trigger. Bullets were flying into the walls, ruining the couches, Dad's comfy chair, breaking family portraits, and they nearly hit me.

Like I was a part of ninja movie, I did some forward rolls on the floor, grabbed a throw pillow for protection, and threw it at Wheezy. While he stumbled, I ran to the front door and ran out of the house. I turned to my right and I heard the siren from the Toon Patrol police car blaring after running down thirty feet down the street.

"STOP IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!" Smarty shouted.

I didn't want to stop and I continued to run. I knocked down a trash can and two wooden crates full of milk bottles. The bottles crashed, the trash can banged and the siren blared.

The car…I'm guessing it's a paddy wagon…was screeching rather loudly after I turned to a corner to the left. I was taking a short cut. I was heading to my high school. That's where I'm going to get the weasels mixed up and lose track of me.

The good thing about my school is that it's a big three story building (it's like an 'H' if you were looking at pictures in a bird's-eye view) and a couple of the doors aren't always locked when it's closing time. But the bad thing is that my school has too many windows and it's going to be a challenge.

"Come on, Beatrice. You're almost there!" I said to myself.

The paddy wagon sounded like it was getting closer and closer every time I turned left or right. I would run so fast while going down a corner that I have to skid to a stop and run again.

I see my school but a giant field of corn becomes a time-wasting obstacle to me.

_There's no way that a giant patch of my favorite side dish is going to stop me! _I thought.

I took off in to the patch of corn field and I even heard the Toon Patrol driving through the patch and stalks and ears of corn were getting knocked down as I run in a zig-zag.

_I can't stay at the school too long. _I thought as I ran. _I just need to stay there for a few minutes until the Toon Patrol will lose track of me._

Finally, I made it out of the corn field and I grabbed a giant rock. When I made it to the front doors of the school, with all of my strength, I threw the rock and the glass in the doors broke in to bits.

"Don't you dare, Birchwood!" Smarty shouted from a long distance.

I got inside the school and I ran up to the third floor. Because of my mixture of terror and courage, I ran up to the third floor with ease and I didn't run out of breath or anything like that.

If you're wondering why I ran to the first floor and if you believe that I broke a rule on surviving a horror movie, I would like to say that I am kind of using and breaking a rule while trying to lose the Toon Patrol.

Anyway, after I stopped on the third floor, I watched the Toon Patrol walk in to the school from the window. They didn't see or catch me on the third floor at first but Wheezy caught me and aimed his tommy gun at me.

As the bullets began to hit the glass, I ran to the next available staircase. I ran down to the second floor and turned to my left. I ran down to the cafeteria and all of the sudden, I tripped and fell down a long flight of stairs. After I landed on the bottom of the staircase, I got back on my feet and went to the exit.

_That should buy me some time. _I thought. _Real world, here I come!_

I ran back outside and through the corn field. This time, after running through the cornfield, I came back to the same corner (where I turned before coming to the school) and I turned to my right. I'm going to the city.

As I ran, another thought bubble appeared before my eyes and the image was slowly going from blurry to high-definition. I am still in the hospital room with cushions for walls. I am running around the room and Tommy watches me. After I bump in to one of the walls, I fall down on my back and I stop moving.

_Come on, Beatrice! Wake UP! _Tommy called to me in the real world.

Then, a clock shows up over my head in the real world.

It said '11:20'.

I really need to hurry.

Then, the familiar blaring siren started to go off again and the Toon Patrol began to gain on me again.

"STOP WHERE YOU ARE, BIRCHWOOD!" Smarty called.

"NO! I'M! NOT!" I exclaimed.

I continued to run. Even though I am getting a little tired of running, I still continue to run because I don't have a lot of time. If the weasels continue to stop me, then I won't be able to make it to the hospital and I'll be teleported to Toon Town.

"ARE YOU TIRED, BIRCHWOOD?" Wheezy called to me.

"NO!" I shouted.

Then, I heard gunshots. Like a rabbit getting chased by a fox, I began to run in a zig-zag formation and I would narrowly miss the bullets. I'm not a Toon but I can run really fast.

I turn my head at the Toon Patrol and their speeding paddy wagon and I frowned.

"SERIOUSLY!" I shouted. "LOSE THE GUNS!"

Then, I turned to another corner and the Toon Patrol made a very sharp turn towards me, nearly hitting a tall building.

I turned to another corner and I continued to run down the street. I don't know if Smarty is shooting at me but if he is, then the only thing that I would like to say about that is…I hope that Smarty's gun will run out of ammo because I am a little dizzy from running in a zig-zag formation. It has too many lefts and rights.

"Give it up, Birchwood!" Flasher yelled. "I can see that you're wearing down!"

"No! I'm! NOT!" I exclaimed.

I turned to an alley in between Mr. T's Pawn Shop and Mr. Dismal's Photography Co. After running for forty-five more seconds, I ran in to a wall and I fell down on my back. I heard the Toon Patrol slam their brakes on the paddy wagon and as I got up slowly, I watched the Toon Patrol backing up their pa—I'm just going to say 'car'—I mean, their car and blocked the entrance of the alley.

Psycho giggled an insane giggle after he and the other weasels…probably except Sleazy…got out of the car. They lined up into a horizontal line and began to close in the space, leaving me trapped like a rat.

As the weasels walk slowly like a tiger getting ready to pounce on their prey, they began to say things that would make a victim, which I am right now, look around like crazy for an exit, a shortcut, or maybe a miracle.

"Give it up, Birchwood." Smarty said. "There's nowhere else to run."

"Nowhere else to go." Wheezy said and blew out a cloud of smoke.

"Nowhere to hide." Flasher and Slimy said in unison.

"Escape is impossible." Smarty said.

'Impossible' echoed in my mind at least three times and then, I suddenly remembered what Smarty said and what I learned about dreams. In dreams, all sorts of impossible things can happen. Many laws of life aren't applied in dreams, like humans can fly or transform in to shapes, and even the law of gravity isn't applied and is defied in your mental fantasy world.

_Maybe I can walk on walls in this dream. _I thought. _I have to try it out right now. I don't have a lot of time! It's now…or NEVER!_

I turned to my right, lifted my right foot, and placed it on the wall. I took a deep breath and lifted my left foot. To my surprise, my feet acted like they were glued to the wall and I stand on the wall like it was a sidewalk.

I heard the Toon Patrol gasp in shock and I immediately began to run up the wall of a two and a half-floor building and didn't stop to think twice after going back to my typical vertical standing position. I ran to another building and like it was a game of hopscotch, I jumped up and landed on the roof of the other building in front of me.

With the help from my mild bird's-eye view of the city, I began to look around the city. For a few minutes, I didn't see the hospital until I looked up. I wasn't looking up at the sky. I was looking at what's in front of me. I saw the hospital.

Immediately after running and jumping from building to building, a thought bubble appeared before my eyes and an image of the clock in that bubble tells me that it's eleven-forty five. I'm almost to the hospital.

When I came across the last roof of the last building in the city, the thought bubble dissolved in to nothing and I jumped off of the building. After landing, I hid behind the wall and waited. I know that the Toon Patrol will coming out of random places and come right after me.

_Those weasels don't know where I am right now. _I thought. _That should be good._

Carefully, I walked away from the building and looked behind to see if Smarty or the other weasels were following me or ready to pop out from the building. Although there were no weasels in sight, I took off running to the hospital.

_Keep going, Beatrice. _I thought. _You're almost to the hospital. The only few things to do right now is run, hope for the best, and try not to get caught by the Toon Patrol._

As soon as I arrived at the hospital, I ran to the side and another thought bubble appeared before my eyes and a new image began to display itself. In the image, the view was in third-person. I, in the real world, am still in the room with the cushion walls and something catches my attention on the top right side of the room. A bright light was shining down from the top right side and something tells me that in one spot of the room, there is a window on the ceiling and it's the only way to get to myself in the real world and wake up.

After the bubble disappeared, I walked to the bottom of a fire escape that I didn't notice before walking to the side of the building. _Abraham's Daughter _still played in my head as I climb up to the roof. There was still no sign of the Toon Patrol.

_Are they really lost? _I thought as I climbed up the second ladder of the fire escape.

_What if Smarty ran away in defeat? _I thought after climbing up to the fourth ladder of the fire escape.

_Is the Toon Patrol really going to make this ending too easy for me? _I thought after climbing the last ladder and walked to a giant square shape thing.

It was the window of my room!

_I made it! _I thought.

I was about to open the latch of the window when my hand was nearly blown away…by a bullet.

"That's enough, Birchwood." Smarty said. "This is where you stop."

"No!" I exclaimed. "This is where I finish my dream and wake up."

"NO," Wheezy said. "You're going to Toon Town and that's that!"

"You're going to Toon Town and I'm not letting you wake up!" Smarty exclaimed and walked over to me with his pistol in his hand.

"Smarty, I made a deal with you!" I exclaimed. "I told you that if I win the challenge, then I can go back home. I won the challenge and there is nothing that you can do to stop me!"

"It's eleven-fifty five and I would like to 'minnish' this fight !" Smarty exclaimed and pulled out his pistol.

"I would also like to say that before I started the second part of the challenge, I said that I didn't come to spit in your face or fight. I don't want to fight you, Smarty."

Then, Smarty clicked the hammer of his pistol.

"That's enough, Birchwood!" He exclaimed and started to walk towards me.

I backed away from Smarty as he walked forward. I was heading straight towards the window.

When my heels bumped into the latch of the window, I looked back and down at it and I saw that my real world-self was in the perfect spot. I was going to jump back into myself.

"Say 'good night', Birchwood." Smarty said with an evil grin.

"Goodbye, Smarty." I said.

Then, like one of those 'do you trust me' falls, I fell back on the window. Like a ghost flying through walls, my dream-self fell through the window as Smarty yelled 'NOOOOOOOOOO'. As I continued to fall, I glanced back at my real world-self and I saw that I was lying flat on my back.

"_Hasta la vista, _Smarty" were my last words before I landed in my body with a loud, slow motion-like THUD.

My world flashed with a bright white light and then, it went black.


	30. Chapter 20 (FINAL)

**Chapter Twenty**

**(Hey, y'all!**

**Here it is the last chapter.**

**Again, there will be more stories about the Beatrice and Tommy!**

**Coming up would be: **_**The Birchwood Twin(s): The Wizard of Oz!**_

**Later: **_**The Birchwood Twin(s): Peaches and Powers!**_

**Enjoy the story!)**

**Greasy:**

When I saw _muchacha _fall back on the window of the hospital, I watched in shock. But then, I realized that she wasn't going to hurt herself. She…was going to wake up.

Before I went inside _muchacha's _mind with Boss and the others, Boss told us that if _muchacha _was at the point of waking up, the rubies on the amulets would glow a bright red and we'll disintegrate and be put back to Toon Town. _Si, _as soon as the _muchacha _fell back, I watched myself getting disintegrated and slowly getting teleported out of the mind of _muchacha._

"_Hasta la vista, _Smarty!" _Muchacha _exclaimed as she was getting closer to her body.

I turned my head towards her and I exclaimed, "WHAT DID SHE JUST SAY?!"

Then, a flash of light exploded and I found myself getting dropped from the sky and I landed on my desk in my office. My surroundings were now ink, paint, and pencil outlines and no longer something from the real world.

I got back on my feet and Boss, Wheezy, Psycho, Stupid, Flasher, Slimy, and Sleazy fell down from the sky. Stupid landed on me and I was knocked back down.

"Stupid, _¡suéltame! _Get off of me!" I exclaimed.

He rolled off of me and I got up and rubbed off any debris or dust off of my coat.

"Say, Boss, what did the _muchacha _say as she was falling down?" I asked.

"She…ugh!...she said, '_Hasta la vista'._" Boss exclaimed as he got up.

That surprised me completely.

"She said that?!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Boss exclaimed. "Now if you 'eschewze' me, I have some business to work on."

Boss walked out of my office and slowly, the others left. Well, Sleazy lingered for a little bit and said,

"Call me if you need help with something, Greasy. And I have to say, Birchwood isn't like any girl that I've seen."

"Yeah, she's one of a kind." I replied.

Then, Sleazy left.

I sighed and took out two movie reels out of my pocket. They were actually copies of the _muchacha's _memories and I just wanted to look at them.

I walked out my office and came back with a projector and sheet.

The first memory that I'm going to look at is…the _muchacha _during her first piano performance at her school.

**Beatrice:**

The morning light from the ceiling window touched my shins. I slowly opened my eyes and sat up.

_I'm in the real world. I still have my normal clothes on, thank goodness. _I thought. _I'm in the room with cushions for walls and the Toon Patrol is nowhere to be seen. The time of the day is back to normal and Lexi, the REAL Lexi, is probably—Wait, is she doing all right?_

"Beatrice?" I heard Tommy-.

TOMMY!

"Beatrice, are you all right?" Tommy asked me.

While rubbing my eyes, I asked, "Where's Lexi?"

As if on cue, the door on my right opens up and Lexi, wearing a T-shirt and jeans, runs in to the room and wraps her skinny little arms around me.

She begins cry softly and with shaky hands, Lexi asked me,

**Are you okay? What happened to you? Why were you walking in your sleep?**

I replied,

**I'm okay, Lexi. I just had a bad dream.**

Then, Lexi hugged me again. I rubbed my hand up and down Lexi's back while she cries softly.

"Well, isn't that really sweet?" A woman's voice said.

I looked at her and I saw Mom, Dad, and Aunt Maddie standing by the door.

"That was really some dream, Beatrice." The other woman said. "Do you remember any of it?"

I thought it over and I said,

"All I remember is shouting, 'For Lexi, for justice'."

"That's it?" Aunt Maddie.

"That's about it." Then, I remembered something. "Aunt Maddie, was there ever a time or two when Lexi said something verbally?"

"There were many times when Lexi would say something verbally. Right now, she's learning how to verbally speak." Aunt Maddie replied.

"All right. I was just curious."

I watched the other woman write something down on a clipboard and then, she says,

"It looks like you're improving already. Thank goodness that you weren't on the street when your neighbors found you and thank goodness again for not getting too badly injured. You do have a couple of bruise, not too bad, and you whacked Dr. Olsen on the back of her head with a pillow…built random things out of cotton swabs, forks, spoons, a blanket, Mr. McCullough's dentures, Miss Rosa's perfume bottle, your hoodie, sixteen rolls of toilet paper, and five pots…and you were constantly acting like you were talking to somebody. Your dad had to use his stun gun a couple of times to stop you but you still would act out the things that happened while you walked in your sleep. Other than those things, you're free to go."

"I got almost the whole thing on camera." Mom said and waved her phone.

"Mom, don't post it on the Internet." I said. "I really mean it when I say 'DON'T POST'. It'll probably be worse than baby photos."

Our conversation ended while everyone, Mom, Dad, Aunt Maddie, Lexi, Tommy, and I, left the hospital with a couple of the doctors and nurses staring at us. One doctor, Dr. Olsen, had an ice pack taped to her head and when she saw me, she narrowed her eyes at me and I put my hands up, as if I was saying 'Hey, don't give me that look. Sleepwalking is unpredictable'.

After walking out of the hospital, Dad drove us to get us some breakfast. As I sat down and ate my potato-chorizo-and-cheese taco with picante sauce, I began to think about quitting my job at the library because things aren't really working out with the hand puppets and the idea of getting pricked in the finger by a sewing needle. I'll just buy some puppets that are already made and I'll mail them to Mrs. Delong. Explaining would probably have to wait.

When breakfast was done and after arriving back home, Lexi had to pack up her things because she had to leave, even though it was too soon. Before she left, she hugged me one last time and said, verbally,

"Bye-bye, Beatrice. I…llllove…y-…y-…you."

With a big smile on her face, she and Aunt Maddie left.

Mom declared that she was going to take a morning nap and eventually, Dad and Tommy agreed that it was a great idea for them, due to not getting a whole lot of sleep while they waited for me in the hospital.

Before Dad joined Mom, he apologized to me for stunning me with his stun gun. I chuckled and I accepted his apology. I knew that if he had to stun me for a reason, then I'll let it slide.

I, however, decided to play the piano. Even though I did a piano play-off in my dream, I still want to play…just to have things go back on course and I need a little something that can help me think.

I walked to my room, closed the door, and walked over to my piano (There are two pianos in my house, one in the living room and one in my room). I cracked my knuckles and took a deep breath.

Just as I was about to play _Stayin' Alive _by the Bee Gees, my attention was caught by four fortune cookies on the top lid of the piano.

_How very odd. _I thought. _There weren't any fortune cookies on my piano when I left this room._

I grabbed the first cookie and broke it in half. I pulled the tiny slip of paper out and I read it. It said:

**"Don't omit your loyalty. That's how leaders and heroes are born."**

I put the slip of paper on the lid, grabbed the second cookie, and I read what the 'fortune' said:

**"Exhume lost or forgotten memories. Relive them."**

I put that slip on the first slip of paper, grabbed the third cookie, and the slip of paper inside the third one said:

**"Getting together with old friends brings new adventures."**

I put the third 'fortune' on my small pile of slips of paper, grabbed the last cookie, and read the final 'fortune'.

**"Love is like a disease. You never know when you'll catch it."**

I'm not sure if the last one makes any sense but I decided to ignore those fortunes and began to play.

While playing and looking around my room at the same time, something on my wall made me stop playing all of the sudden. I swear, I thought that I saw Greasy's shadow crawl down the wall and slithered out of the window. I ignored that and went back to playing. That stopped, too, when I glanced at the window and saw Greasy standing outside of my house with a smile on his face.

I closed my eyes, shook my head, and looked back at the window. Greasy wasn't there. That was really bizarre.

**THE END!**


End file.
